WASHINGTON – Thursday, the Telecommunications and Internet subcommittee heard testimony from a panel of experts on the need for funding for first responder communications. Congressman Bart Stupak (D-MI) expressed concerns about the parallels between September 11^th and Hurricane Katrina as well as the failure of Congress and the Administration to help first responders communicate.

“Frankly, given the lack of funding and the lack of planning since 9/11, it was no wonder we were faced with a communications breakdown during and after Katrina. I am outraged at how little has been accomplished,” Stupak said. “Just as with September 11^th, during Katrina helicopters could not communicate with rescuers on the ground. Just as with September 11^th, radio channels were overwhelmed with traffic. Just as with September 11^th, police could not talk to firefighters. Just as with September 11^th, those watching TV had better information than the first responders on the ground. The Administration had the opportunity to learn a lot after September 11^th, but I’m afraid they failed to listen.” 

Stupak introduced the Public Safety Interoperability Implementation Act, HR 1323, which will set up a dedicated grant program for interoperable communications and fund the program first through appropriations and then through future spectrum auction proceeds. Stupak explained that the 700 Mhtz spectrum to be sold through the DTV transition is estimated to be worth $23 billion, well beyond the estimated $18 billion needed for full interoperability throughout the country.  

“Now is the time to devote that money to first responder communications, not tax cuts,” Stupak said. “Governing is about priorities, and the Administration’s and this Congress’s priority seems to be tax cuts for millionaires instead of radios for police.”

Lieutenant Colonel Thomas J. Miller, Deputy Director of the Michigan State Police, testified at the hearing on behalf of Michigan’s 75,000 first responders. Michigan has the largest geographically-based public safety communication system in North America. Miller testified that although Michigan is a national leader on public safety communications, more federal funding, leadership and standards-setting is necessary to implement fully interoperable communications.

“In my 24 years of law enforcement experience, I have come to learn first hand that effective, coordinated, and accessible communications between first responders is critical to the public safety mission,” Miller said. “We have studied, conceived, and built a state of the art digital standards-based interoperable radio system with significant audio capacity and potentially enormous public safety transmission capacity.”

Tim Roemer, former Congressman and co-chair of the 9-11 Commission also testified, stating, “After Katrina, communications for first responders must become an urgent priority for this Congress.  We should not have to learn these lessons a third time. We need to do this now and as quickly as possible.”

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