WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senators Pat Roberts and Daniel Akaka (D-HI) today called for more federal funding to assist state and local government with emergency and disaster response.

Senators Roberts and Akaka sent the following bipartisan letter, signed by 37 Senators to Senator Robert Byrd (D-WV), Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security and Senator George Voinovich, the Subcommittee’s ranking member:

"We write to request an increase in funding for the Emergency Management Performance Grant (EMPG) program in the FY2010 appropriation for the Department of Homeland Security. We respectfully request that you fund the EMPG program at a minimum of $487 million.

"The EMPG program was created to assist in developing an effective emergency management system at the state and local government level to handle disasters and emergencies of all types and sizes. It provides the only source of federal assistance to state and local governments for all-hazards emergency management capacity building and is commonly referred to as ‘the backbone of the nation’s emergency management system.’ EMPG funds are used for personnel, planning, training, exercises, warning systems, public outreach, and other functions essential to effective preparedness, mitigation, response, recovery. The EMPG program provides states with the flexibility to prioritize spending according to the most urgent state and local needs. The program is matched dollar for dollar by state and local governments and has a proven track record.

"The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, hurricanes along the Gulf Coast in 2005 and flooding throughout the Midwest in 2008 demonstrated the urgent need for robust state and local preparedness and response capabilities for disasters of all kinds, whether wrought by nature or man. The EMPG supports this all-hazards need. Despite the criticality of the EMPG program, it has historically been underfunded. A 2008 survey conducted by the National Emergency Management Association (NEMA) concluded that the program faces a funding shortfall. State and local governments simply cannot be expected to take on the new all-hazards requirements identified in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and the ever growing homeland security mission without adequate resources to do the job.

"In FY2009, the Congress recognized the importance of EMPG and appropriated $315 million in funding. We respectfully request that EMPG be funded at $487 million for FY2010. We believe this is a reasonable request, given the current authorization of $680 million for EMPG as approved by Congress and the President in the 9/11 Commission Implementing Legislation in 2007.

"While we recognize the current fiscal situation requires restraint in spending, it is critical that Congress provide adequate funding for EMPG in order to meet the emergency management needs of state and local governments across the nation to build our capacity to respond to all disasters regardless of cause."

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