The nation’s local, city, and state homeland security directors are taking this week to thank the United States Congress for working so hard to protect the emergency alert systems we use to keep our residents safe.
On Sept. 18, the House Energy & Commerce Committee joined the Senate Commerce Committee in passing the AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act on a near-unanimous vote. With the respective committees of both houses of Congress greenlighting the bill, it now seems inevitable that Speaker Mike Johnson, who co-sponsors it, and Majority Leader Steve Scalise will schedule it for a House Floor vote.
Although the first radio broadcast aired over a century ago, and many new technologies have come to the market since then, AM radio remains the “fail-safe” of our public warning apparatus.
While other communications networks might become more reliable at some point in the future, cell phones, Internet, and satellite don’t presently have the same resiliency as AM radio. Its long wavelengths serve as a bulwark against the signal interference that other signals fall victim to during bad weather and emergency situations. It also cannot be hacked by our adversaries. That is why Congress and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) built the nation’s National Public Warning System and more localized Emergency Alert System around AM radio. It is also why FEMA has warned Congress that automakers’ continued removal of AM radios from their vehicles would cause millions of Americans to lose access to “critical, life-saving” information during emergencies.
That would undoubtedly be the case in my home state of Louisiana. During Hurricanes Katrina and Irma, emergency responders relied on AM radio to save countless lives, and we still rely on it today.
While I can only speak to how it’s been depended upon in Louisiana, other experts, such as Sheriff Shaun Golden, who spearheaded the Superstorm Sandy relief efforts in New Jersey, and former New York Police Lieutenant Darren Porcher, who said he utilized AM radio to keep the public safe on Sept. 11, 2001, have echoed my sentiments.
The bottom line is that AM radio isn’t just an entertainment device. It’s also a public safety lifeline.
Many automakers — including Honda, GM, Nissan, and Toyota, to name just a few — have already chosen to protect it. The AM radio for Every Vehicle Act will just get the rest of the automakers on the same page.
For months, the auto industry has heard from Congress and dozens of public safety experts. They have been given enough time to do it on their own accord.
As House Energy and Commerce Chair Cathy McMorris Rogers said this spring, “The reality is that automakers have been aware of these bipartisan, bicameral concerns for a long time, and have yet to adequately address them with any private sector solutions.” So now it’s time for the legislative branch — the same branch that funds their millions of dollars in annual subsidies — to make some stipulations.
The overwhelming majority of Congress agrees with her assessment. That’s why the AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act has a filibuster-proof majority of support in the Senate and a large majority of the House of Representatives already co-sponsored it.
It’s now moved through all the necessary committees. The only step left is for congressional leadership to call it up for a vote so that it can get placed on President Joe Biden’s desk for a signature.
When Congress formally passes and the president signs this bill it will prove to be the most crucial and hailed public safety legislative victories of the last decade — one that will benefit every region of the country.
Thank you, Congress, for ensuring that our emergency alert systems remain safe and secure for the years to come. For local homeland security directors like me, few things are more critical to helping us adequately perform our jobs.
Richard W. Chatman is the Deputy Director of the New Orleans Office of Homeland Security & Emergency Preparedness
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