Bill Clinton: “this amendment would add $625 million to the high-threat urban area category of Homeland Security funding. This would…”

“this amendment would add $625 million to the high-threat urban area category of Homeland Security funding. This would bring the amount close to what the President asked in his budget where he asked for $1.5 billion for the high-threat category. What has been happening over the last several years is that the Department of Homeland Security has added the number of cities and localities with critical infrastructure to this category, which I support and agree with. But as a result, the amount of money is not sufficient in order to meet the needs of the number of places that the Secretary deems appropriate for high-threat urban funding. So I ask that we support this increase. It brings us close to the President's requested amount in the 2005 budget, and it enables the Secretary to provide the funding to a number of places that have high-threat needs.”