President George W. Bush unveiled his new budget plan on Feb. 27 during his first address to Congress and the nation, but the new plan places some hurdles in the way of next year's Firefighter Investment and Response Enhancement Act funding.

Bush's budget plan phases out “an unneeded fire grant program, saving $100 million” in 2002. The plan states that the program “was authorized for only two years and does not represent an appropriate responsibility of the federal government.”

This action does not affect the $100 million already appropriated for the fire service for fy 2001, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency intends to move forward with dispersing those funds. However, it does create a greater challenge for those fire service organizations that pushed for this funding in the beginning.

Major fire service groups, including the International Association of Fire Chiefs, are working to address this issue. In fact, ichiefs is urging its members to delay any actions until an appropriate strategy is developed that will ensure the funding is provided — as authorized by law — to continue the fire program.

Last October, the fire Act was authorized by Congress to provide $100 million to the fire service in fy 2001 and $300 million in fy 2002. The fy 2001 monies were appropriated in December.

In addition to fire Act funding, the new budget plan eliminates $25 million for Project Impact, stating that the disaster preparedness campaign “has not proven effective.”