On June 24 the House of Representatives passed a bill providing $750 million in funding for the Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program for FY 2004. H.R. 2555, the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, was approved by a vote of 425 to 2. This is the same amount that Congress appropriated for the FIRE Grant in FY 2003.

In addition, the House Appropriations Committee recommended in a report on the bill that the FIRE Act remain within the Emergency Preparedness and Response Directorate. That agency is the new home of the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the U.S. Fire Administration, which currently administer the program. The committee took this action to underscore the importance of the program and to protect it from becoming lost in the other first responder grant programs.

In February President George W. Bush released the administration's FY 2004 budget proposal, which contains $500 million for the FIRE Grant program. This is the first time an administration has budgeted funding for the grant program; however, the administration is proposing the grants be moved from USFA to the Office of Domestic Preparedness, a branch of the Border and Transportation Security Directorate.

The House language confirms Congress' support for the FIRE Act and the work the USFA has done in administering the program.

The bill now goes to the Senate, where the Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee will begin work on the Senate version of the legislation. After the Senate passes its version of the bill, appropriators from both houses will meet in conference to work out any differences.