Bill Clinton: “In addition to my first amendment, which would provide the Secretary with the discretion to distribute money above the…”

“In addition to my first amendment, which would provide the Secretary with the discretion to distribute money above the State minimum, above the so-called PATRIOT Act minimum on the basis of threat, Senator Schumer and I offer this amendment to provide an additional $625 million for high-threat urban areas. This is a separate category of funding in homeland security in addition to the other two I mentioned. In this category, we know that the Secretary does have discretion, but what we have found is that over the last several years the discretion that he has felt obligated to exercise has meant less money going to more places as opposed to concentrating money on a threat analysis so we could really take care of the needs of particular areas and then move on down to take care of the needs of others. Last week, when Secretary Ridge spoke at the National Press Club, he said: I would tell you that we assess the level of terrorist threat outside of Washington and New York, which will always be at the top of the list. I mean, that's just a fact of life. . . . I'm not telling you anything [new]. It's not news. New York City, for obvious reasons--the impact on the economy and al-Qaida has always talked about the disruption or the undermining of our national economy. It's not just the iconic nature of New York City. A lot of the stock exchanges, the financial services community drives not only our national economy but the international economy.”