From the CFSI and IAFC: The House on Wednesday passed an amendment that would restore the funding for the SAFER and FIRE Grant programs back to their FY 2010 levels — which stood at $420 million for SAFER and $390 million for FIRE.

H.R. 1, the Fiscal Year 2011 Full-Year Continuing Resolution Act, initially contained over $100 billion in cuts compared to the president’s FY11 budget request, including reduced funding for the FIRE grant program to $300 million and eliminated all funding for the SAFER grant program. But by Tuesday more than 700 amendments had been filed to the bill.

Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-N.J.) introduced an amendment to restore funding for the FIRE and SAFER grants to the FY 10 levels. The House approved that amendment by a vote of 317-113.

Still undecided is an amendment proposed by Rep. David Price (D-N.C.) that would extend the current SAFER Grant waivers through FY 2011.

Congress failed to pass any of the FY 2011 spending bills during the 111^th Congress. As a result, the federal government has been operating off a series of continuing resolutions since the fiscal year began on Oct. 1, 2010. The current continuing resolution (also known as a CR) expires on March 4, 2011. If Congress fails to pass H.R. 1 before the current CR expires, they will need to pass another short-term CR or face a government-wide shut down.