In the March edition of the APHA newspaper, The Nation’s Health, there is an article on the President's proposed 2009 budget. The article is pretty scathing, too.

The Department remains dedicated to fulfilling our duty to protect our country. Six years after September 11, 2001 we are moving beyond operating as an agency in transition to an agency diligently working to protect our borders and critical infrastructure, prevent dangerous people and goods from entering our country, and recover from natural disasters effectively.

Federal money from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security comes with a catch. Washington and Benton counties must show the federal government by today that law enforcement, firefighters and medical emergency workers have the skills and equipment to work together during a disaster.

The Bush administration intends to slash counterterrorism funding for police, firefighters and rescue departments across the country by more than half next year, according to budget documents obtained by The Associated Press.

The U.S. Department of Transportation has awarded Ohio more than $500,000 to strengthen its response to hazardous material incidents.

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) today awarded $5 million health care partnership emergency care grants to five health care partnerships. The recipients were selected via a competitive process aimed at improving hospital surge capacity, emergency care system capability, and community and hospital preparedness for public health emergencies.

This Policy Information Notice (PIN) provides guidance to health centers (i.e., section 330 funded grantees and Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) Look-Alikes) on emergency management expectations related to planning and preparing for future emergencies.

State and local governments received nearly $3.6 billion in federal fiscal 2007 funding this week for counterterrorism, emergency preparedness and interoperable communications.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced today final Fiscal Year (FY) 2007 Homeland Security Grant Program (HSGP) awards totaling $1.7 billion, including a total of almost $411 million to the nation’s six urban areas at highest risk of a terrorist attack: New York City/Northern New Jersey; the National Capital Region; Los Angeles/Long Beach; the California Bay Area; Houston; and Chicago.

HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt today announced that the department has provided another $896.7 million to the states, territories, and four metropolitan areas to improve and sustain their ability to respond to public health emergencies.

State and local emergency managers are the clear winners in the approps process

HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt today announced a total of $430 million in awards to states, territories and four major metropolitan areas to strengthen the ability of hospitals and other health care facilities to respond to bioterror attacks, infectious diseases, and natural disasters that may cause mass casualties.

Since, 2003, Mahon said, county emergency co-manager Diane Wilkinson has written grants that have brought in some $539,346.96 in federal grants toward expenses such as exercise and training, repeaters, radios, generators, lights and rescue equipment.

According to Doug Mormann, director of the La Crosse County Public Health Department, President Bush’s budget request for the next fiscal year reflects a growing belief that states need to bear some of the costs for disaster preparedness.