News Release - Etheridge Advocates for NC First Responders

News Release
Congressman Bob Etheridge
North Carolina

April 12, 2005

Contact: Sara Lang
Phone: (202) 225-4531

Etheridge Advocates for N.C. First Responders at Key U.S. House Panel

Lawmaker, Secretary Beatty Participate in Congressional Hearing

WASHINGTON - U.S. Rep. Bob Etheridge (D-Lillington), the only North Carolina member of the House Select Committee on Homeland Security, today advocated for distributing federal homeland security funds based on a comprehensive analysis of threats and potential targets. At a committee hearing, Etheridge said North Carolina's mix of military bases, universities, financial institutions, schools, interstates and highways and farms would be better served by a distribution formula that recognized the unique and serious threats faced by the state.

"North Carolina may not be as big as New York or Washington D.C., but we do have targets that would be ripe for terrorists to attack," Etheridge said. "That's why I'm supporting legislation that uses a common sense measure of risks and threats to provide federal funding for homeland security. This legislation incorporates the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission and provides a framework to make sure that our communities are safe. We must get homeland security resources into the hands of the local first responders who need them. We can never have homeland security without hometown security."

Etheridge was joined at the hearing by N.C. Secretary of Crime Control and Public Safety Bryan Beatty, who was invited to testify because of the good work the state is doing in distributing its federal homeland security funds. Beatty testified on the evolution of North Carolina's distribution process and the state's continued homeland security needs.

Beatty agreed with Etheridge about the need for funding decisions based on actual threats and risks. "North Carolina ranks 49th in per capita homeland security funding even though it is the nation's 11th largest state," he said. "Although we are next to last in funding, I cannot believe we are next to last in risk."

Etheridge is a co-sponsor of the "Faster and Smarter Funding for First Responders Act of 2005," H.R. 1544. This legislation would require the Secretary of Homeland Security to establish specific, flexible, measurable and comprehensive guidance on the tools needed by states and localities to effectively and efficiently prevent, prepare for, and respond to acts of terrorism. It would also allocate federal homeland security funds to states based on a comprehensive threat or risk analysis rather than simple population. This change was a recommendation of the 9/11 Commission.