With just hours to spare, a government shutdown was averted when Congress passed a bipartisan, clean continuing resolution (CR) to fund the federal government an additional 45 days on Sept. 30th. The goal of both the House and the Senate is to use the 45 days to pass the 12 individual Fiscal 2024 appropriations bills and avoid the need for an “omnibus” appropriations package, which combines multiple appropriations measures into one. The House has passed its versions of the Military Construction-Veterans Affairs, Defense, Homeland Security, and State-Foreign Operations appropriations bills. The Senate is expected to consider their versions of the Military Construction-VA, Agriculture, and Transportation-Housing and Urban Development appropriations measures next week. This ambitious 45-day objective was made all the more difficult on Oct. 3 when Representative Matt Gaetz (R-FL) forced a vote to oust Kevin McCarthy as Speaker of the House for his support of the clean CR. The measure prevailed with eight Republicans, including Gaetz, joining all the Democrats to vote in favor of kicking McCarthy out of the Speaker’s office. Representative Patrick McHenry (R-NC) assumed the role of acting speaker pro tempore and recessed the House until Oct. 10. NAPO has been working to protect our priority grant programs with the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security from considerable cuts as the House moves to significantly lower spending levels for FY 24.  We joined with 10 national law enforcement organizations in a Sept. 27 letter to House and Senate Appropriations Committee leadership urging robust funding for state and local law enforcement in the FY 24 Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies (CJS) and Homeland Security appropriations measures. We were able to successfully protect the Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI) and the State Homeland Security Grant Program (SHSGP) from cuts in the House-passed Homeland Security spending bill (H.R. 4367), which funded the grant programs at $615 million for UASI and $530 million for SHSGP; Register soon for NAPO’s 2023 Legal Seminar being held Oct. 22 – 24, 2023 at Hyatt Regency Lake Tahoe. Defending the Protectors: Current Issues for Attorneys & Law Enforcement Leaders  is the perfect seminar for those representing Public Safety Employees and associations and participants can earn up to 14.5 Hours of CLE Credits, including two hours of Ethics; The deadline for 9/11 Responders to apply for PSOB benefits under Protecting America’s First Responders Act (PAFRA) is Nov. 17, 2023. PAFRA established a two-year window from enactment (Nov. 18, 2021) specifically for 9/11 responders to file a disability claim under the Act for an injury sustained in the line of duty as a result of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, assuming no claim had already been filed or the claim had been denied on the fact that the injury did meet the old disability requirements. It also allows families of 9/11 responders catastrophically injured because of the attacks, but who died of those injuries prior to being able to apply for benefits, to apply for death benefits within the two-year window. To meet the deadline, an officer or their family only need to start a claim application on the PSOB website (PSOB.gov) - the application does not need to be completed by Nov. 17; NAPO’s updated “Sponsor/Cosponsor” spreadsheet and “Legislative Positions” document are available on NAPO’s website. 

For more on these and other legislative issues, please click here for the Oct. 6, 2023 Washington Report.