Political Quotes

“The bill before us today was born out of the need for reform. It consolidates various grant programs and provides discretion to the Secretary. These reforms include funding reductions, requirements for measurement and requirements for spending languishing dollars. The consolidation of this bill forces the Secretary to examine the intelligence and risk and puts scarce dollars where they are needed most, whether it is port, rail, surveillance or whether it is high-risk urban areas or to States, as opposed to reverse engineering projects to fill the amount designated for one of the many programs or granting funds to lower-risk areas. Additionally, as noted by the gentleman, the bill limits Urban Area Security Initiative grants to the top 10 highest cities. Again, this puts scarce dollars to where they are most needed. That means cities like New York are funded at the significantly higher levels than other cities because they are the highest threat to urban areas. I don't think anyone here can argue that. This does not mean lower-risk areas will lose all funding. It would just mean the funds will come from other programs such as State homeland grants that are risk and formula based. I strongly urge my colleagues to support fiscal discipline by aligning funding with areas of highest risk and vote ``no'' on this amendment. I yield back the balance of my time. The Acting CHAIR. The question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from Nevada (Mr. Heck).…”