Washington, DC - Rep. Gene Green (D-Texas) applauds a grant allocation of $14,586,128 for Houston’s fire fighters, police and other first responders.

Green organized a letter from Democratic and Republican members of Houston’s congressional delegation to Secretary Carlos Gutierrez of the Department of Commerce and Secretary Michael Chertoff of the Department of Homeland Security in June asking them to give priority to America’s largest cities when allocating the grant money.

Members of Congress representing Houston and Harris County who signed the letter were Green, Ted Poe, John Culberson, Ron Paul, Kevin Brady, Sheila Jackson-Lee, Al Green, Nick Lampson and Michael McCaul.

Houston has been allocated more money than any metropolitan area except New York City, Los Angeles, Newark or Chicago. Other urban areas that will receive allocated funds are the San Francisco Bay area and the National Capital Region, which includes Washington, D.C. Texas will receive an additional $50.5 million.

Houston Mayor Bill White thanked “Congressman Gene Green and the rest of the Houston congressional delegation that worked so aggressively to increase the allocation of funding for the Houston area.”

The money, which comes from the Public Safety Interoperable Communications (PSIC) grant program, will go toward development of interoperable communications plans, equipment, training and exercises.

“We learned our lesson about communications on September 11,” Green said. “This money will help us make sure our first responders can all talk to each other, whether they’re police, fire fighters or medical personnel and no matter what jurisdiction they’re from. I hope we’re never in a situation that requires a massive emergency response in Houston, but if we are, lives will be saved by the benefits of these grants.”

Houston began implementing a comprehensive plan to improve communications interoperability with adjacent jurisdictions in 2003. The city hopes to migrate to a 700 MHz trunked radio system that will be compatible with Harris County’s radio system and state and federal agencies.