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Prince George's County Executive Jack B. Johnson (D) and congressional leaders united Monday to discuss having secured $15.6 million in federal public safety funding for the county — an announcement that was previously made in July when U.S. Vice President Joseph Biden made a stop in the county.

"We would not have even begun to move forward without the aid of this delegation," Johnson told U.S. Sen. Benjamin Cardin (D-Md.) and Reps. Steny Hoyer (D-Dist. 5) of Mechanicsville, Donna Edwards (D-Dist. 4) of Fort Washington and Christopher Van Hollen Jr. (D-Dist. 8) of Kensington. The leaders repeatedly thanked each other for securing the funding under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

The event was held at the county's homeland security office in Largo, where the leaders were positioned next to a fleet of mobile command centers, bomb disposal equipment and police SWAT team carriers.

So far, Prince George's County has received $15.6 million in grants, including $10.6 million to hire 55 county police officers. Other funds have gone toward providing support for domestic violence victims, overtime funding for deputies to clear a backlog of outstanding warrants and a new case management system to coordinate prosecutions in the county state's attorney's office.

The money for new officers is the only reason Prince George's County can increase its force amid massive budget shortfalls, Johnson told leaders.

"For our population, we had been wanting to hire 150 officers a year, like we have in the past. This time, we have 55," he told the delegation, adding later, "If it wasn't for federal funding, I would have had to lay off 500 workers."

The $10.6 million law enforcement grant was the only money given directly for hiring employees.

County Spokesman John Erzen noted that Prince George's received $335 million in federal funding through state road improvements and other projects. The federal funding saved the county from dipping into its general fund for those purchases, which indirectly saved the county money to spend on keeping employees, he explained.

So far, Prince George's County has only received about 30 percent of the $50.2 million it applied for in federal grant funding for public safety, according to a briefing the county gave congressional leaders.

Federal officials denied the county $6 million in requests for grants to hire civilian law enforcement workers, enhance the county's forensics and crime scene units and hire two case workers to help crime victims.

County requests for an additional $8 million for other public safety projects still have not been decided by federal officials. A staffer for Hoyer said decisions could come on those requests any day.

Hoyer called the news conference Monday, and said it is important to show the public that the government funding is helping with economic recovery. He cited the recent rising of the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the slowing unemployment rate, which currently hovers at 10 percent nationally.