Chet Edwards For Congress

June 7, 2006
House vote may help Disaster City

Bryan-College Station Eagle
By Eagle Staff Report |

The Texas A&M University System's Disaster City may have dodged a bullet, at least for now.
A proposed $15 million cut in federal funding for the National Emergency Response and Rescue Training Center, which operates the program, was averted Tuesday after a vote in the U.S. House of Representatives.

If the bill can now get Senate approval, the center will receive $22 million in funding as part of the 2006 homeland security budget - the same amount the program received last year. The Bush administration had proposed cutting its annual funding to $7 million.

Rep. Chet Edwards, D-Waco, who helped residents in campaigning against the cuts, expressed pleasure Tuesday that the substantial cut was averted.

"There should be no greater priority of the federal government than to protect Americans here at home from the threat of terrorism," he said in a press release, pledging to support the funding on a bi-partisan basis "throughout the legislative process."

According to Edwards' office, the proposed decrease in funding would result in a loss of 50 jobs and a dramatic drop in emergency responder training - from 40,000 students per year to 9,000.

Earlier this year, the congressman helped residents draft a letter of protest to the chairman of the House Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee, which he also sits on.

House members passed the homeland security budget Thursday evening with a 388-9 vote.