The Senate has approved an amendment put forward by
the chairman and ranking member of the Homeland
Security And Governmental Affairs Committee, Susan
Collins, R-Maine, and Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn.,
adding $986 million for first responder programs,
port security, and rail and transit security.
The amendment provides $860 million to expand funding
for homeland security grant programs for state and
local first responders — including the State Homeland
Security Grant Program, Law Enforcement Terrorism
Prevention Program, the FIRE Act and SAFER programs,
the Metropolitan Medical Response System, and the
Emergency Management Performance Grants.
It also provides $500 million for grant programs
dedicated to port, rail and transit security, $105
million for cargo imaging inspection equipment, and
$20 million to increase staff for C-TPAT — a program
that expedites trade for companies that improve their
security operations.
Lieberman had tried to add an additional $8 billion in
homeland security funding with an earlier amendment
that would have given $6.2 billion more directly to DHS.
