Doris Matsui: “the new Congress has begun and today we debate the first piece of our 100 hours agenda, H.R. 1--the implementation of…”

“the new Congress has begun and today we debate the first piece of our 100 hours agenda, H.R. 1--the implementation of some of the long-overdue bipartisan 9/11 Commission recommendations. As I have stated on numerous occasions, national security is our highest priority. By passing these long-overdue 9/11 Commission recommendations today, we will be taking significant steps towards better protecting our country. This means scanning all air cargo loaded onto passenger planes and seaborne cargo containers shipped into the United States, as well as encouraging intelligence information sharing among federal, state and local agencies. Further, it will increase the share of state homeland security grants provided to our communities, based on risk--an issue of particular concern to my home state of California. The current formula results in 40 percent of funding equally distributed to each state with the remainder allocated based on risk. With H.R. 1, each state is guaranteed a minimum of .25 percent of funding, while states that share an international border, or are connected to a body of water with an international border would receive at least .45 percent. This strikes a balance between risk-based allocations and ensuring a funding minimum for all states.”