Earlier this month, the NVFC sent out an action alert asking you to contact your Senators and Representative requesting that they properly fund and reauthorize Assistance to Firefighters Grant (AFG) and Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) grant programs. This action alert is a reminder for you to contact Congress if you haven’t had the chance to do so yet. It is important that your representatives hear from as many of us as possible to show the importance of AFG and SAFER.
The action alert from earlier this month is below:
The Assistance to Firefighters Grant (AFG) and Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) grant programs provide direct assistance to local fire and EMS agencies to help them purchase equipment, training, and apparatus, as well as recruit and retain career and volunteer personnel. AFG and SAFER were funded at $360 million in FY 2023. The House FY 2024 Homeland Security appropriations bill would fund these programs at $360 million and the Senate bill would fund these programs at $338 million. This decrease in funding is unacceptable.
Additionally, the AFG and SAFER programs’ authorizations expire at the end of FY 2023 and these programs are scheduled to sunset at the end of FY2024. In April, the Senate passed S. 870 to reauthorize these programs and the U.S. Fire Administration through 2030 by a vote of 95 to 2. Please use this action alert to tell your Senators and Representative to fund AFG and SAFER at a minimum of the $360 million contained within the House’s FY 2024 Homeland Security appropriations bill and reauthorize these programs as soon as possible.
Click the link below to log in and send your message:
https://www.votervoice.net/BroadcastLinks/–7OPJIOPlAu-H5OWRWkww
