Fairfax County concerned about impact of proposed cuts to homeland security funding

Leaders in Fairfax County Virginia are seeking more information about the impact of proposed homeland safeguard grant cuts that could leave the D C region without the tens of millions of dollars it considers vital to keep the area safe Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chair Jeff McKay reported President Donald Trump s administration notified local leaders over the summer that there would a cut to the grants But of late they learned the cuts amount to of total homeland prevention grant funding Related stories Montgomery Co continues to hedge against expected cuts to federal grants Trump administration slashes DC s assurance funding by Judge accuses Homeland Precaution of bullying states into accepting conditions to get FEMA money The Washington Post first revealed news of the proposed cuts which could outcome in a loss of more than million WTOP has contacted the Department of Homeland Protection for comment This is really critical obviously in a region like the DMV where very sensitive incidents can occur very briskly McKay announced The grant funding McKay reported helped reimburse the D C -area jurisdictions that sent law enforcement and first responders to help after the deadly midair collision near Reagan National Airport earlier this year It helps the localities either pay overtime for responders that help with major incidents or backfill positions while personnel are responding to a major emergency If nothing changes here and this cut goes into place it ll have an effect of having every local governing body look at whether or not they say yes or no to requests for assistance McKay commented What that does is put all of us at jeopardy It puts our first responders at vulnerability It puts casualties in certain of these instances at peril D C and other states filed a lawsuit in response to the proposed cuts and a federal judge in Rhode Island ruled that the cuts couldn t be made while the lawsuit proceeds McKay called it alarming that Virginia was not one of the states that joined the lawsuit In addition to reimbursement for first responders McKay explained the grants help pay for terrorist response training camera networks integrated radio systems hazardous material detection and emergency alert systems Over time what we ll find out is if those funds go away you re going to have local governments not investing in specific of those systems which puts everybody at liability McKay commented And you re going to have local governments when called upon in a critical situation potentially say We re going to have to pass on this one Clint Osborn director of D C s Homeland Safety and Urgency Management Agency declared the cuts are part of Urban Area Guard Initiative funding which helps prepare for prevent and respond to terrorism and other threats across the region These funds are vital to the overall urgency preparedness and response capabilities where our threat level remains high and where events designated as National Special Safety Events occur frequently Osborn revealed in a message The District will be requesting to the Trump Administration a full restoration of these probable devastating cuts In Fairfax McKay and the board appealed County Executive Bryan Hill to summary how much in reimbursements could potentially be lost and what programs training and equipment may no longer be available if they can t be paid for with local funding Mutual aid agreements which allow jurisdictions such as Fairfax to send first responders to an occurrence that may be just outside of their borders won t be affected by the proposed cuts McKay declared Source