The White House released its FY 2018 budget proposal today. Several fire service priority programs received modest cuts. While media reports suggest funding for 66 federal programs were zeroed out overall, no programs important to the fire service were slated to be unfunded entirely by the administration. See budget analysis below as prepared by the IAFC Government Relations Team.
FY 2018 Budget Break down
FEMA
(In millions of dollars)
|
Program
|
FY 2017
|
FY 2018
|
|
FIRE
|
345
|
344.344
|
|
SAFER
|
345
|
344.344
|
|
USFA
|
44
|
43.41
|
|
UASI
|
605
|
448.844
|
|
SHSGP
|
467
|
349.362
|
|
Office of Health Affairs
|
123.548
|
111.319
|
|
Urban Search and Rescue
|
38.28
|
27.513
|
It looks like the budget proposes a 25% local match requirement for SHGP and UASI funds.
U.S. Department of Transportation
The president’s budget would carry the authorization for the ALERT grants into FY 2018.
U.S. Department of Agriculture
(In millions of dollars)
|
Program
|
FY 2017
|
FY 2018
|
|
Wildland Fire Management
|
2,833
|
2,495.038
|
|
State Fire Assistance
|
78
|
69.4
|
|
Volunteer Fire Assistance
|
15
|
11.6
|
- The State Fire Assistance and Volunteer Fire Assistance programs are funded out of the USDA’s Wildland Fire Management top-line $2.495 billion.
- The Hazardous Fuels program was moved from the Wildland Fire Management account to the National Forest System account.
- The FLAME fund would be eliminated under this budget request.
- The FY 2018 budget request recalculates the 10-year average, but proposes to fund 100% of the newly calculated 10-year average: 1.056818 billion.
U.S. Department of the Interior
The FY 2018 budget proposes $873.518 million for the Wildland Fire Management Account (The FY 2017 appropriation was $942.7 million). This amount is 100% of the 10-year average for wildland fire suppression. The budget would eliminate the FLAME fund. In addition, it proposes discontinuing funding for the Fire Facilities Construction and Maintenance program.