WASHINGTON-The Bush administration Tuesday said it opposed new grant money for the deployment of wireless enhanced 911. “The administration believes Congress should consider more efficient and more cost-effective means to address this issue, rather than establishing a new grant program,” reads a letter from Theodore Kassinger, general counsel of the Department of Commerce, and Rosalind Knapp, deputy general counsel of the Department of Transportation.
The letter from Kassinger and Knapp was delivered on the eve of the House Commerce Committee passage of a bill that would authorize $100 million annually for five years for grants to public-safety answering points unless a PSAP’s state has diverted 911 funds collected from consumers for other purposes.
Both Commerce Committee Chairman Billy Tauzin (R.-La.) and Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.), the sponsor of the bill, vowed to work through the administration’s concerns and bring the bill to the House floor this month.
“It is not every day what we do can save lives,” Tauzin told reporters following the Commerce Committee’s action. “This is one of those things that will save lives.”
