CBS '60 Minutes' to Attack Waste in First Responder Spending

CBS '60 Minutes' to Attack Waste in First Responder Spending

April 10 Broadcast, Featuring Homeland Security Committee Chairman Cox, Highlights Proposed Legislative Remedy

WASHINGTON, April 8 /PRNewswire/ -- The House Committee on Homeland Security's legislation will be featured in this Sunday's broadcast of '60 Minutes' on CBS. The show, which highlights waste in first responder funding, draws attention to needed reforms in federal grant making that would be made by the Faster and Smarter Funding for First Responders Act of 2005 which will be introduced Tuesday, April 12, 2005.

Postponed from the April 3rd broadcast, it will air at 7 p.m. EDT, PDT and 6 p.m. CDT, MDT on Sunday, April 10, 2005. Additional information on the broadcast can be found at http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/03/31/60minutes/main684349.shtml.

In other Homeland Security Committee news:

* The misuse of federal homeland security funds will be the subject of a hearing of the Subcommittee on Emergency Preparedness, Science, and Technology at 2 p.m., Tuesday, April 12, 2005, in 2212 Rayburn House Office Building. The hearing will focus on problems with first responder funding, including: inordinate delays in funding reaching the front lines; the lack of risk-based priority setting for grants; inadequate planning for grant monies before they are received; and the lack of measurable goals for spending on terrorism preparedness.

* Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff will appear before the full Committee on Homeland Security at 1:30 p.m., Wednesday, April 13, 2005. The focus of the hearing will be the need to set homeland security priorities based on the actual risk of terrorism.

* Committee Chairman Christopher Cox will deliver the keynote address at an American Enterprise Institute event, "What Does Homeland Security Spending Buy?" at 9 a.m. on Thursday, April 14, 2005, at AEI, 1150 17th St., NW, Washington, D.C. Rep. Cox will describe congressional initiatives to help first responders secure the nation, including the Faster and Smarter Funding for First Responders Act, and give his predications for legislative action this year.

* The Faster and Smarter Funding for First Responders Act of 2005, which would prioritize homeland security grant funds by risk and promote advanced state and local first responder coordination for homeland security spending, will be the subject of a hearing before the full Committee on Homeland Security at 10:30 a.m. on Thursday, April 14, 2005, in 210 Cannon House Office Building.

Source: House Committee on Homeland Security

CONTACT: Ryan Patmintra of the House Committee on Homeland Security, +1-202-226-9600

Web site: http://hsc.house.gov/

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