On February 10, President Trump released his Fiscal Year (FY) 2021 budget. Overall, the numbers are mixed. The Administration proposes increasing the U.S. Fire Administration’s budget to $49.716 million. The Urban Areas Security Initiative and State Homeland Security Grant Program would take cuts of approximately 36 percent and 41 percent, respectively. The Assistance to Firefighters (AFG/FIRE) and SAFER grant program would take small cuts down to $344.344 million. The Volunteer Fire Assistance program also would receive a small cut under the President’s budget.
The Administration also proposes a $406.909 million National Security and Resilience Grant Program to provide financial assistance on a competitive basis to non-federal entities to address specific, existing and emerging threats as identified by the Secretary. It also proposes $20 million for necessary expenses for targeted violence terrorism prevention programs. It proposes a 25% non-federal match for the State Homeland Security Grant Program & Urban Areas Security Initiative.
The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration also took some cuts. The Administration proposed cutting the “Hazardous Materials Safety” account by $300,000 to $60,700,000. The “Pipeline Safety” account would be cut by $5 million to $163 million. The “Emergency Preparedness Grants” account remained funded at $28,318,000, and included the language authorizing the ALERT grants.