BudgetNevada lawmakers fail to restore DHS funds to Las Vegas
Members of the Nevada congressional delegation were taken aback when they found that Las Vegas would lose DHS funding for anti-terror programs, and immediately began to work their fellow lawmakers on the Hill to add money to DHS security grants to cities. The effort failed, and Las Vegas will have to find other sources of funding for some of the city’s security programs.
Members of the Nevada congressional delegation were taken aback when they found that Las Vegaswould lose DHS funding for anti-terror programs, and immediately began to work their fellow lawmakers on the Hill to add money to DHS security grants to cities. The effort failed, and Las Vegas will have to find other sources of funding for some of the city’s security programs.
The Las Vegas Review-Journal reports that an amendment by Representative Joe Heck (R-Nevada) proposed cutting $22 million from administrative accounts in a DHS spending bill and using the money to help state and local security grants. The proposal lost by a 156-268 vote.
DHS allocates funds to cities based on their risk ranking. The top twenty-five cites in the rankings receive funds from a pot of $558.7 million. Las Vegas placed 33rd in the ranking, and was not eligible for the funds.
Representative Dina Titus (D-Nevada) voted for the amendment, but said that even if the amendment was passed, there is no guarantee that Las Vegas would have received the additional funding, and that cuts to salary accounts could threaten other security programs run by DHS and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Heck still hopes that Las Vegas will receive some DHS funding, and other Nevada lawmakers are still talking with DHS about reviewing risk formulas and possibly receiving funding this year.
“Las Vegas, which holds more high-profile, highly attended events than any city in the country, is worthy of UASI funding,” Heck told theReview-Journal, referring to the Urban Area Security Initiative grants.
Titus told officials that the failed amendment is “just a blip” and progress is being made with DHS secretary Janet Napolitano.
“We’ll go forward with what we’ve been working on,” Titus said. “The people who know how the process works and the real problem with the formula will continue to work on that.”
