On Monday, the Obama administration released its proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2011. As has become the norm, the proposed budget reflects significant cuts in fire service funding, including cuts of $115 million for SAFER and $85 million for FIRE, two of the most popular grant funding programs for the fire service (read the IAFC analysis here).

Naturally, this gives cause for concern, but before I drew too many conclusions, I reached out to Bill Webb, executive director of the Congressional Fire Services Institute (CFSI).

“This doesn’t come as much of a surprise,” Webb says, emphasizing that the administration is under pressure to address the budget deficit, which may be playing into these proposed figures.

More importantly, Webb points out something the IAFF noted on its Web site on Monday that directly impacts SAFER funding. “The House passed a jobs bill that provides an additional $500 million for SAFER,” Webb says. “If the Senate follows the House’s lead and includes the same funding level in its job bill, SAFER would get a substantial increase that would help offset the decrease in the proposed budget.”

That said, Webb isn’t ready to just accept the proposed amounts, or to assume funding will be increased. “I want to be an eternal optimist, to see the glass as half-full,” he says. “But we can’t be complacent; we need to continue to work to restore funding.”

Next Steps
So what’s next? “I always say, ‘The president proposes; the Congress disposes,’” Webb says. “We’ve been down this road many times, with the Bush administration and the Obama administration. The budget is a blueprint; it serves as a guide. The focus now will be on the Congress, working with the appropriators to ensure that the funding for the programs continues.”

Amidst the hearings and meetings that will be happening on the Hill over the next several weeks, CFSI will play an important role: communicating the position of the fire service as a whole to Congressional members, and advocating for increased funding. “We need to sit down as a coalition of fire service groups and figure out a strategic way to address this issue,” Webb says. “So much of our success has been predicated on our ability to sit down, come up with a consensus on the funding levels we want, and work together to advocate for those funding levels.”

The Individual Level
We hear a lot about how firefighters need to get involved in politics (see a related article here), so I asked Webb when firefighters should start to speak out about the budget.

“Timing is everything in Washington,” he says. “You have to wait for the right opportunity to express your position with your member of Congress. Various fire service associations will be putting out information via their Web sites, outlining their strategy and their position, which will set the stage for others to get involved. After the strategy and positions have been outlined, that’s when firefighters can pick up the phones, sit down with their Congressional representatives, and explain what needs to be done.”

Even then, Webb cautions, we should look at the big picture. “The focus should be not just on local issues—what’s best for my department—but what’s best for the programs as a whole and for the overall needs of the fire service,” he says.

Webb also offered some advice for those who do choose to contact their Congressional representatives to advocate for more funding: “There are two questions I think all firefighters should be prepared to answer when talking with Congressional members,” he says.

“First, why does the fire service need federal support? There are still folks on the Hill who think that funding should be coming from local and state governments, not federal funding. So you need to ask yourself that question and be able to answer it.

“Second, how have these programs benefited you? The answer to this question needs to be framed in terms of how, at the local level, federal funding has helped protect the homeland infrastructure, enhance homeland security, etc. Departments that have received grants have to be able to demonstrate a level of success, a measurable impact in addressing what was an existing need.”

The Bottom Line
Although the proposed FY 2011 budget poses challenges for the fire service, Webb stresses that this is the beginning of a process that we’ve been through before—years ago, the Bush administration proposed $0 for SAFER, but current funding stands at $420 million; last year, Obama proposed $170 million for the FIRE Act, which is currently funded at $390 million.

“So this proposed budget for 2011 wasn’t the best news, but it’s no reason to panic,” Webb says. “There’s a long process ahead of us, and if we can galvanize support from the fire service across the country for these programs, we can prevail and hopefully, maintain the level of funding we have now.”

Shannon Pieper is managing editor for FireRescue magazine.