On Tuesday night, the House Rules Committee passed a closed rule for the Fiscal Year 2010 DHS Appropriations bill (H.R. 2892) that would not allow Representatives Bill Pascrell (D-NJ), Steve Austria (R-OH), Peter King (R-NY) and Ann Kirkpatrick (D-AZ) to offer their amendment on the House floor yesterday. The House Rules Committee writes the rules for the consideration of each bill before it goes to the House Floor. 
More funding for the FIRE grant program
However, Representative David Price (D-NC), the chairman of the House Homeland Security Appropriations subcommittee, has included an extra $10 million for the FIRE grant program in his manager's amendment, which passed last night.
Representative Pascrell and his staff were very grateful for the fire service's support of his amendment, which created this opportunity for more funding for the FIRE grant program.
