Firefighters play a critical role in maintaining public safety. Furthermore, fire departments may be required to respond to future acts of terrorism. To improve the capacities of fire departments to handle potential future attacks, Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT) introduced an amendment to the 2004 budget resolution that would have increased spending for fire department personnel, equipment, and hiring by $17.5 billion over ten years. The increase in spending for fire department would have been offset by reducing the size of the tax cut contained in the budget resolution by an equal amount. Progressives favor improvements in public safety and therefore supported Dodd's amendment. On a strict party-line vote, Republicans were able to defeat Dodd's proposal by a 48-50 margin.