Consortium helping emergency responders would benefit from DHS bill

Among the organizations benefiting from the largess of House appropriators is the National Domestic Preparedness Consortium, which would receive $135 million in the fiscal 2007 Homeland Security appropriations bill awaiting a final House vote -- $45.6 million more than the administration requested.

The consortium helps develop and deliver anti-terrorism training to emergency responders. The House Appropriations Committee report accompanying the bill specifies that $47 million of the funding will go to the consortium's Center for Domestic Preparedness in Anniston, Ala., which is located in the district of House Homeland Security Management Subcommittee Chairman Mike Rogers, R-Ala.

Other members of the consortium include the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology; Louisiana State University's Academy of Counter-Terrorist Education; Texas A&M University's National Emergency Response and Rescue Training Center; and the Energy Department's National Exercise, Test and Training Center in Nevada.

The committee report also specifies that $6 million will go to the U.S. Fire Administration's Noble Training Center outside of Anniston, also in Mike Rogers' district. A spokesman for Rogers said the Alabama lawmaker supports the funding but was not responsible for it. He added that the Center for Domestic Preparedness and Noble Training Center are federal organizations that were created before Rogers was elected to office.

House lawmakers also have directed the Homeland Security Department to continue the Commercial Equipment Direct Assistance Program, which provides anti-terrorism equipment to local jurisdictions across the country. The administration did not request any funding for the program.

Awards are made under the program to local agencies not currently funded through the Urban Area Security Initiative program, which allocates funding based on risk. A DHS spokeswoman confirmed that awards made under the Commercial Equipment Direct Assistance Program are not made based on risk assessments. Members of the House Appropriations Committee were also successful in inserting language that directs the Federal Emergency Management Agency to spend money to update flood maps in their districts.

Specifically, FEMA is directed to update flood maps for counties in the districts of Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Harold Rogers, R-Ky., and Reps. Marion Berry, D-Ark., and Chet Edwards, D-Texas. The flood maps help determine insurance rates.