Snowe and Collins examine first responder funds

By Deirdre Fulton

WASHINGTON – State and local emergency first responders need more money and more flexibility, Maine Republican Sens. Olympia J. Snowe and Susan M. Collins said Thursday as the Senate debated President Bush's wartime spending request.

"I have met with first responders in Maine and know the difficulties they are facing, especially in terms of flexibility within funding," Snowe said in a statement. According to Elizabeth Wenk, Snowe's press secretary, the senator plans to introduce legislation within the next few weeks to allow communities to spend a portion of federal homeland security money however they see fit.

Waterville Fire Chief Ray Poulin, said in an interview that money for training is crucial for local first responders, such as police officers, firefighters and paramedics. While the state has bought new equipment, such as biohazard suits and meters to test air quality, the firefighters don't know how to use it, Poulin said.

"The city can't afford to send 50 firefighters to training," Poulin said. Typically, firefighters will perform training drills with new equipment, but the city can't afford to pay overtime to train the entire company, he added.

Next week, Collins will hold hearings in the Governmental Affairs Committee to address the amount of money that goes to first responders and how they can spend it, according to Megan Sowards, Collins' press secretary. Collins, who chairs the committee, has said she is concerned about port security, an issue critical to Maine, which has more than 3,000 miles of coastline.

The hearings will be designed to determine specific estimates of just how much money first responders need, Collins said Thursday in an interview. "We need to recognize that the needs in our communities are diverse," she said. "I suspect there should be additional funding."

The administration's $3.8 billion request for homeland security funds out of the nearly $75 billion supplemental war request the president has sent to Congress "is a bit on the light side," Collins speculated. However, she pointed out that there is a lot of money "still in the pipeline" for homeland security that has not made it to the local level.

Some states, particularly those with long borders, vulnerable ports or international airports, may need more money, she added. Portland Police Chief Michael Chitwood will testify at one hearing next week on the financial burdens faced by communities that need to beef up airport security. After the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the city police provided extra security at the Portland International Airport.

While she said additional money might be necessary, Collins criticized some Democrats for attempting to increase federal spending arbitrarily on homeland security without providing evidence of specific needs.

"Some of these amendments are just plucking figures out of the air," she said. "I don't think that's a good way to decide."

Published in The Kennebec Journal and The Morning Sentinel, in Maine.