Governors and first responders seeking more federal aid

As fire chief of Boone County, Mo., Steve Paulsell and his department will be first to respond if terrorism hits home. He only hopes federal funding will back him up.

Paulsell heads Missouri Task Force 1, one of the federal response teams that scoured through rubble at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon for survivors of the Sept. 11 attacks.

Today his fire department is training to respond to other terrorist attacks, but like first responders across the nation, Paulsell doesn't have enough money for the kind of sophisticated equipment that detects chemicals and biological agents. Nor does he have the gear to protect against these weapons of mass destruction.

"If it happens in Boone County, I've got firefighters that will be the first ones there," he said. "And the critical decisions they make in the first five to 10 minutes, based on their training, will set the pace of that event as it evolves. Where the rubber meets the road is at the local level."

Efforts to get billions of federal dollars to local fire, police and health officials became mired in a budget battle on Capitol Hill. While some funds are finally on the way, everyone involved says the money is not enough.

'Certainly worthy'

Lawmakers approved $3.5 billion for homeland security on Feb. 13, for a fiscal year that began five months ago. But about $2.2 billion of the money is for the regular operations of broad law enforcement and emergency programs such as buying police cars or responding to floods.

"Those are certainly worthy programs, but they aren't specifically dedicated to combating terrorism and defending the homeland," said Brian Roehrkasse, spokesman for the new Department of Homeland Security.

President Bush had wanted all $3.5 billion set aside for a program that would let states draft their own homeland security plans, apply for the money and spend it as they wish, Roehrkasse said. The administration is seeking the same amount of money for first responders next year as well.

Governors insist they need far more money to adequately protect people. They pressed the issue in meetings with President Bush and congressional leaders during a National Governors Association conference last Monday and Tuesday.

States are facing budget shortfalls that could reach $82 billion next year. "It's very tough to try and put that infrastructure in place without some federal assistance," said Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius.

In Missouri, Homeland Security director Tim Daniel said gaps in communications are "a huge problem that was demonstrated on 9-11." Daniel estimates it could take $500 million to get the state's preparedness program up and running.

On Capitol Hill, some Democratic lawmakers are pushing to double the amount of money Bush is seeking for first responders next year.

"This is a large country, and you have a lot of places that are potential targets that the local police and fire departments don't have a clue as to what to do, much less the equipment to handle it," said Rep. Ike Skelton, top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee. "A lot of your midsize and small communities are being overlooked in all this."

Skelton and Rep. Jane Harman, D-Calif., are pushing for $7.1 billion for first responders next year and $10.6 billion in 2005.

Local fire departments will have access to considerably more money this year, said Sen. Kit Bond, R-Mo. A Senate Appropriations Committee member, Bond helped push federal grants to fire departments from $360 million in 2002 to $750 million in 2003.

Bond said the government also will spend an additional $60 million on the 28 urban search-and-rescue teams that are part of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

That is good news to Paulsell, whose Missouri Task Force 1 is among the FEMA teams. But he's worried about local departments.

"Unfortunately, when you're trying to address the capabilities at the local level in every community in the nation, even if a lot of dollars are expended, they get spread pretty thin," Paulsell said.