Bill Clinton: “Yes. This is an amendment that expresses the sense of the Senate that the homeland security block grant fund allocated…”

“Yes. This is an amendment that expresses the sense of the Senate that the homeland security block grant fund allocated to the States be done using primarily a threat-based formula rather than solely a per-capita formula. The Homeland Security appropriations bill before us seeks to provide critical homeland security resources to our first responders--our States and our local communities--to help them improve our homeland defense. I offer this amendment to support the effort to ensure that those funds are disbursed effectively. After setting forth a number of findings, this amendment states that it is the sense of the Senate that homeland security grants to State and local governments that contain the small State minimums in the PATRIOT Act and that are disbursed by the Office for Domestic Preparedness should be allocated to the States through a threat-based formula rather than a per capita formula after-- and I stress this--after the small State minimum provision is applied. I am offering this amendment because the Senate committee report accompanying the bill requires Secretary Ridge to distribute the State and local grants, other than the high-threat formula grants, on a per capita basis. This is obviously a bit confusing and arcane because it has to do with formulas and percentages, but it is a very important issue with which we have to come to grips.”