FY12 Minibus-COPS Funding

Dear Members,

This week the Senate is expected to act on legislation affecting funding for FY12 by packaging a small group of bills into a ‘minibus’.  The three bills are up for consideration: Agriculture, Commerce-Justice and Science (CJS), and Transportation-HUD.

During the  Senate Appropriations Subcommittee markup for CJS funding, the committee approved  $232 million for the Community Oriented Policing Services program, designating $200 million for COPS Hiring. NAPO has been working with legislators in favor of an amendment to the floor bill, (S. 1572), that would provide more funding to COPS Hiring. The details of the amendment are still being completed. NAPO is lobbying for COPS Hiring to be restored to FY11 funds, thus increasing the bottom line to $247 million.

A few things to keep in mind regarding federal spending; the CR will expire on November 18th and the overall amount authorized for discretionary spending is $1.043 trillion.  The House passed a committee version of CJS that totaled $50.2 billion. However, that was under the assumption that the overall spending limit was $1.019 trillion. (This is important to note because the House did not include funding for the COPS program.) The Senate passed committee version was $52.7 billion.

NAPO will continue to keep you up-to-date as the legislation progresses throughout the week. Once the minibus passes the Senate, the House will need to take up the legislation. In the meantime, please reach out to your Senator and let them know you are in favor of any amendment that would increase funding to COPS Hiring.

Thank you,

Rachel Hedge

Director of Government Affairs

National Association of Police Organizations

317 South Patrick Street

Alexandria, Virginia 22314

(703) 549-0775 office