Lawmakers Want Money For First Responders Included In Deficit Plan
Tuesday, November 15, 2011 at 12:38PMBy Andrea Salazar
A bipartisan group of Hill lawmakers joined first responders from across the nation Tuesday to urge the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction to include in its recommendation a bill to better emergency responder communication.
With the so-called “super committee” nearing its Thanksgiving deadline to come up with at least $1.2 trillion in savings, the group pressed support for a measure that would privatize some lines of communication.
Their plan would allow the Federal Communications Commission to auction spectrum, or public airwaves it has domain over, to raise an estimated $24.5 billion — $6.5 billion of which would go toward deficit reduction.
“Any teenager with a smart phone has better technology than our first responders,” Sen. Kristen Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) said during a news conference today. “They can share more information more quickly than the men and women who put their lives on the line to keep us safe. That must change.”
Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) noted that improving nationwide communication is “one of the few recommendations of the 9/11 commission that has not yet been adopted.”
The D-block, a piece of 700 MHz spectrum, would allow first responders nationwide to share information during emergencies.
“We’re using, at best, mid-20th century telecommunications for the 21st century,” Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.) said. “That’s what the D-block changes — a dedicated source of funding to buy the best and highest technology to use it for its highest purpose, and that is for the safety of the American people.
Also present at the news conference were Sens. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.), Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) and emergency personnel from San Jose, Calif. and New York City.
Lieberman, Akaka And Collins Make Bipartisan Call For Equal Federal Benefits For Same-Sex Couples
Senators Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Daniel Akaka (D-Hawaii) established a bipartisan front Tuesday in favor of the Domestic Partnership Benefits and Obligations Act .
“We must ensure that the Federal Government has the tools it needs to compete with the private sector and attract the best and the brightest to serve our country. Simply stated, providing domestic partner benefits to federal employees makes sound business sense,” Akaka said during a Senate Homeland Security Committee hearing with Rep. Tammy Baldwin and Director of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management John Berry.
The federal government currently offers its employees and their dependents more than three hundred health insurance plans and subsidizes health insurance premiums, but does not cover same sex couples partners. Under the Domestic Partnership Benefits and Obligations Act, employees for the federal government who are in same-sex unions can receive the same benefits.
"[We] introduced this bill because we believe it is the fair and right thing to do, and also because it makes sense for the federal government as an employer,” said Lieberman.