A bipartisan pair of lower chamber lawmakers are calling on House Appropriations Committee leaders to consider additional funding support for first responders in border communities.
Rep. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., and Michael McCaul, R-Texas, sent a letter to House Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Kay Granger, R-Texas, and ranking member Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., requesting additional funds for first responders in communities hit hard by the southern border crisis.
“As you consider potential additional appropriations for Fiscal Year (FY) 2024, we ask that any supplemental funding package include funding for critical programs to assist first responders in impacted communities of immigration,” the lawmakers wrote.
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Rep. Ruben Gallego and Michael McCaul are calling for additional funding for first responders in communities affected by the crisis along the southern border. (Cassidy Araiza for The Washington Post via Getty Images)
“Nationwide, local officials, including police departments, fire departments, and Emergency Operations Centers (EOCs), are facing significant resource strains related to the migrant crisis,” the pair continued. of legislators.
Gallego – who is running for Senate – and McCaul, the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, noted a “dramatic uptick” in illegal crossings along the southwest border that saw 269,000 crossings last month, which -contributed “to a historic total of 2.4 million over the past 12 months.”
“Local police departments are prohibited from directly enforcing immigration laws,” the lawmakers wrote. “However, first responders, especially local law enforcement, are handling more calls, including for organized criminal activity, vandalism, law enforcement and emergency response.”
“Even without violent criminal behavior, every call to a police department, fire department, or EOC adds a strain on resources and personnel that makes it difficult for them to help pay the tax of permanent residents. resident,” they continued.
The letter of Rep. Michael McCaul and Ruben Gallego noted a “dramatic uptick” in illegal crossings on the southwest border. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
“The increase in operations is stretching the resources of local governments, police, and fire departments to the limit. Without additional funding, many local leaders and decision makers are faced with a choice – just provide essential services to long-term residents and ignoring some emergency calls. decide not to make it a top priority or allocate resources toward addressing a dwindling migrant population without end.”
The pair of lawmakers then asked that Granger and DeLauro “consider additional funding for programs that assist first responders in communities hardest hit by the border crisis,” should Congress consider the additional funding under the Department of Homeland Security or Justice.
Gallego and McCaul named several programs they would like the funds to go to: “Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) grants, Assistance to Firefighters Grants (AFG), and Emergency Operations Center ( EOC). ) grants.”
“This funding is critical to providing state and local agencies with the resources they need to hire more police officers, firefighters, and emergency responders, such as necessary equipment and overtime pay for first responders. respond already in the face of this crisis,” Gallego and McCaul conclude.
Neither Granger’s nor DeLauro’s offices immediately responded to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
The lawmakers’ letter comes as the House pushes to meet a Nov. 1 funding deadline. 17 and avoid a government shutdown.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., warned that the House and Senate may be at “disagreement”. government funding if the Democratic-controlled chamber tries to force the House GOP to bring dense multi-topic spending bills to the House floor.
“We sent appropriations bills to the Senate and they didn’t do anything with them. In the end, we’re going to end up in a conference committee that does the final deals and all these things, but we’re hoping the Senate will do the their job,” Johnson told Fox News Digital in an interview
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The House passed five of the 12 individual spending measures that will collectively fund the government in the next fiscal year. They are set to consider three more this week.
None came up for a vote in the Senate, where Democrats blasted Republicans for writing spending bills at lower levels than agreed to under the bipartisan debt limit deal. However, Senate appropriators announced a bipartisan deal last week to combine three spending bills into one “minibus.”
