 |
|
|
|
|
Wednesday, December 05, 2001
Govs Seek $4B For Anti-Terror Effort
By John Nagy, Staff Writer
|
|
The nation's governors say their efforts to guard against threats to public health and critical infrastructure posed by the ongoing possibility of terrorist acts will cost the states at least $4 billion in the first year after the Sept. 11 attacks on New York City and the Pentagon. Their estimate is based on the preliminary results of a survey conducted by the National Governors Association (NGA), their lobbying arm in Washington, D.C.
The governors presented their needs in a letter late Tuesday (12/4) to party leaders in the U.S. Senate, just 24 hours after federal Office of Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge placed the nation on general alert for a possible attack sometime in the next few weeks. Ridge's announcement was the third such warning since he accepted the post created by President George W. Bush in early October.
NGA asked the governors to assess the costs to state agencies of new security measures later that month. The $4 billion figure is a projection of one-time expenses and ongoing state and local preparedness needs based on responses from 17 states and one territory. It includes $3 billion for public health preparations and communications improvements and $1 billion to protect potential targets, including gas and oil pipelines, highways and airports, and water and energy supplies.
Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, preparing to testify Wednesday afternoon before a Senate panel considering security provisions at international border crossings, said the governors would be pleased to see the federal government chip in $2 billion toward public health laboratory and emergency medical response measures. He said states could probably shoulder the remainder of the public health burden, particularly if Congress created a discretionary fund to cover the $1 billion in estimated additional state security needs.
"Every state in this country has found its resources extraordinarily stretched. . . . We are upgrading our security response as fast as we possibly can," Dean said.
In Vermont, that means at least making sure border crossings are both secure and efficient. On his way home from a recent trip to Canada, a border guard told Dean he'd been doing 12-hour duty every day for the previous three weeks.
"People simply can't work at that level and continue to do a good job," Dean said. Michigan, home of one of the nation's busiest border crossings, reports spending $8,000 every day to augment federal Customs manpower at the state's points of entry.
Kentucky and West Virginia were the only other respondents to allow themselves to be identified in the NGA report. The Bluegrass State expects to spend $3 million this year on overtime for extra security at airports. Officials in the Mountain State say safeguarding roads, bridges, chemical facilities, government buildings and water resources will run as high as $4 million.
Dean said he did not know of any state in the nation that was considering raising taxes to meet the new security costs directly. But the federal government is in a position to help states avoid cutting or freezing programs in other areas as they meet constitutional obligations to balance their budgets during an already painful recession, he said.
He said the early figure, which the group presented as low-end, will be periodically revised as additional responses roll in. As it stands, the governors' request is just over half the $7.5 billion in homeland security spending that Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) wants included in the Defense Department's FY2002 budget. Significant portions of that money would ultimately pay for state and local measures or reduce the burden on states to supplement federal law enforcement and public safety teams.
The Senate appropriations committee approved the Byrd amendment Tuesday before sending the Defense bill to the Senate floor. Other prominent spending measures before Congress address bioterrorism and border security.
|
Comment on this story in the space below by registering with Stateline.org.
|
|
|
|
|
| Issues: |
Homeland Security
|
|
There are no comments yet, would you like to add one?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 | Stateline.org has put together a list of state public policy resources organized by issue. Here, you will find useful links to essential information from government, academia, and think tanks. If you have a link to add, please email us.
|
| |
|
|
Powered by