The AM for Every Vehicle Act is a Public Safety Necessity
As a fiscal conservative, I generally sympathize with Sen. Rand Paul ’s (R-KY) concerns about government mandates, spending , and the national debt . However, as a public safety professional who served as the Federal Emergency Management
Agency administrator, I was disappointed to see him block Sens. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Ed Markey’s (D-MA) AM for Every Vehicle Act from passing earlier this month.
The popular, bipartisan bill, which would prevent automakers from removing AM radio from their vehicles, received a motion for passage by unanimous consent in the United States Senate. While the rest of the chamber supported passage, Paul objected, stating that he saw the bill as nothing more than a way to preserve some Americans’ “favorite form of entertainment.”
Paul is right about a lot, but he is mistaken about this bill. The AM for Every Vehicle Act is not about protecting the talk radio industry or popular programming. It is about preserving a critical piece of public safety infrastructure that protects people from coast to coast.
Months ago, I sent a leVer to congressional leadership, along with every other former living administrator of FEMA from the Clinton through Trump administrations, advocating the legislation’s passage for this very reason. FEMA’s leaders know from experience that AM radio is oXen the only way for the local, state, and federal governments to communicate with the public in times of emergency.
The National Public Warning System and more localized Emergency Alert System are critical to our ability to keep people informed and safe before, during, and aXer a disaster hits, which is why the American taxpayers have invested heavily in them.
Because AM radio signals travel further than other mediums and are the most resilient form of communication during a disaster, AM remains the backbone of America’s public warning apparatus. Yes, other communications platforms can carry public warnings, but when the power goes out and cell towers become overloaded, AM radio never loses connection. That is why the government has chosen to keep it as the nation’s top public safety lifeline. Even in this digital era, nothing compares to it.
Just look at the recent fires in Maui. The affected residents did not have power, so they were not able to follow the fire on television. All but one or two of the island’s cell towers went down, so their residents also did not have phone or internet reception. Radio was the only medium available to them, which most were able to access in their vehicles while fleeing the fires.
Time and time again, AM radio has saved lives in emergency situations.
During Hurricane Harvey in 2017, I was moved by the many station managers who slept on the floor of their offices for days because they knew they were the only way thousands of Texans could receive the latest news about recovery teams, shelters, and water recession levels.
Sheriff Shaun Golden, who led New Jersey’s response to Superstorm Sandy, saw the same phenomenon take hold in 2012. He wrote, “When Superstorm Sandy first made landfall, more than a million people were tuned into the radio in the New York region during any 15-minute period (which includes five New York counties, nine in New Jersey, and some of Connecticut).” He reasoned, “With no other means of communication available, these residents who were sifng in the dark tuned into local stations seeking any sort of critical (and, in some cases, life-saving) updates they could get.”
Even Todd AlcoV, Paul’s mayor in Bowling Green, Kentucky, understands the importance of AM radio. In a leVer he sent to Paul, along with nearly two dozen other local emergency management professionals, sheriffs, police chiefs, and political officials, on Cruz and Markey’s bill, he wrote that “the deadly 2021 tornadoes that hit our commonwealth demonstrated how vital its unique reach and resiliency is to keeping Kentuckians safe and secure during the worst of times when Wi-Fi and cellphone reception goes down.” He also said the emergency response leaders of Paul’s county made this point clear when the junior senator toured the devastation with Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY).
If it was not for its public safety function, Paul might have a point that Congress mandating AM radio remain in cars is just as senseless as trying to keep movie theaters in malls or requiring car makers to retain eight-track players from the late 1970s. But the device has a far more critical function than entertainment.
In his objection speech, Paul also mistakenly categorized the maVer as one of consumer choice. He said that if drivers do not like that electric vehicle makers are removing AM radio, they can just choose not to purchase EVs, which currently comprise just 2% of all vehicles on the road. The problem is that some manufacturers, such as Ford, have announced plans to remove AM radios from all their models, electric and gas-powered.
FEMA leadership has stated that if this trend of removing AM radios continues, millions of people will lose access to critical, life-saving information during emergencies. Again, I agree with Paul that the government should not dictate one form of entertainment over the other, but there is so much more at stake here. When public safety comes at risk, the government has an obligation to step in and protect its citizenry.
While Paul is a fiscal conservative, he is also a proponent of a strong national defense. If he speaks with key stakeholders about the AM for Every Vehicle Act in the coming weeks, I know he will come around to understanding the critical public safety function of radio and will ultimately vote for the bill when it comes up in regular order. The safety and well-being of millions of people are counting on it.
Pete Gaynor was administrator of FEMA and acting U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security under President Donald Trump.
