Senate Homeland Security Committee chairman’s state to lose half of its DHS grants

Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT)

The home state of the chairman of the U.S. Senate Homeland Security Committee is set to lose half of its Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI) grants in 2011 as the Department of Homeland Security tightens its belt.

The grant program was reduced across the board by more than 20 percent for fiscal 2011 by DHS in a budget-cutting move disclosed on May 19. According to a funding distribution document published on the department's website, total funding for the grant programs will be $2.19 billion in FY 2011, compared to $2.87 billion in FY 2010.

Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Joe Lieberman said he was “deeply disappointed with the Administration’s impending decision to eliminate millions of dollars in homeland security grants that have flowed to Connecticut for most of the past decade -- a 50 percent reduction compared to last year.”

Half of all cities nationwide that received UASI grants, which helps major metropolitan areas prevent and prepare for terrorist attacks, will be cut from the program in Fiscal Year 2011, including Connecticut’s two UASI cities, Hartford and Bridgeport, according to Lieberman. “Connecticut will also lose 42 percent of its general homeland security grants and 38 percent of its port security grants,” he said.

In May 20 statement, Lieberman said while he understood that sacrifices had to be made to bring the federal deficit under control, he said such deep cuts to the national security budget were questionable because terrorists “will continue to strike us here at home.”

Lieberman said 32 of 64 UASI cities were eliminated from the program. He added that the State Homeland Security Grant Program (SHSGP) will be reduced by about 37 percent, across the board. Port security grants will be cut by 18 percent, he said.

Connecticut has two UASI metropolitan areas - Bridgeport and Hartford – that will no longer be eligible for the grant in FY 2011, he said. The cities received $2.8 million and $2.7 million respectively in UASI money in fiscal 2010. Since 2008, when those two cities first became eligible to receive UASI grants, they have received approximately $7.5 million each, he said.

Connecticut port security grants, which flowed to Bridgeport, New Haven, and New London over the years, will be pared to $1.4 million from $2.2 million in FY 2010. The three cities received $4.5 million in FY 2009, he said.

Since 2002, Connecticut has received nearly a billion dollars in homeland security grant funding. This funding has supported training and equipping first responders, improving interoperable communications, establishing fusion centers, promoting information sharing, and protecting critical infrastructure around the state.