Thursday, June 29, 2006

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Kit Bond today announced that he won approval from a key Senate Committee to boost federal funding for the nation’s 28 Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) teams.

“These funds will help our firemen, paramedics and volunteer rescue experts receive the equipment and training they need to prepare our nation for any contingency,” said Senator Kit Bond, a senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee.

Senator Bond, working with Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) increased funding for the USAR teams to $30 million, an increase of $10 million over the President’s budget request. The funds were secured in the fiscal year 2007 Department of Homeland Security Appropriations bill. The spending bill passed the Senate Appropriations Committee this morning. Before being signed into law the bill must be passed by the full Senate and reconciled with the House of Representatives' bill.

Since 1999 Bond and Mikulski have led the charge to increase funding for the nation’s USAR teams. Following September 11th and recent natural disasters, like Hurricane Katrina, the importance of these teams became undisputed.

Missouri’s USAR team, Missouri Task Force 1, was deployed to the World Trade Center on September 11th, was deployed twice last year to Hurricane Katrina and, most recently, assisted in rescuing nine trapped victims in Clinton as a result of a structural collapse. Overall USAR teams rescued over 6,500 people in the Gulf Coast region following Hurricane Katrina.

The funding secured by Bond and Mikulski will be used to continue training and equipping the USAR teams to work safely in areas hit by natural disasters and weapons of mass destruction, such as biological, nuclear or chemical attack.

The following states have Urban Search and Rescue teams: Arizona, California (8 teams), Colorado, Florida (2 teams), Indiana , Massachusetts, Maryland, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, Nevada, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia (2 teams) and Washington.

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