On Thursday, May 26, 2016, the full Senate Homeland Security Committee passed the Fiscal Year (FY) 2017 Homeland Security Appropriations bill, S. 3001.  The bill would provide $680 million for the Assistance to Firefighters Grants (AFG) and SAFER (hiring) programs combined, with each program receiving $340 million each.   This is $5 million less for each program than the current FY 2016 level, but represents where the committees started last year before they added $10 million to the combined pot of funds.

The Committee bill includes $44 million for the U.S. Fire Administration (USFA), level funding from FY 2016; and $35.18 million for the Urban Search and Rescue system (USAR), also level funding from the current fiscal year.

Below are FY 2017 funding levels for other State and local security programs contained in the Senate Appropriations bill:

• $467 million for State Homeland Security Grants, including $55 million for Operation Stonegarden
• $600 million for Urban Area Security Initiative grants, including $20 million for the non-profit set-aside
• $100 million each for Port and Transit Security grants
• $50 million for Countering Violent Extremism
• $350 million for Emergency Management Performance Grants
• $68 million for the Center for Domestic Preparedness
• $18 million for the Center for Homeland Defense and Security
• $21 million for the Emergency Management Institute
• $101 million for the National Domestic Preparedness Consortium

We will keep you updated on further developments with S. 3001, the DHS FY 2017 Appropriations bill. If you have any questions, please contact GAC Co-chairs John Granby at [email protected]; Lee Morris at [email protected]; Joe Mirabile at [email protected]; or GAC Sr. Adviser Dave Gatton at [email protected].