Laura Richardson

COPS is critical to any local chief of police. I am just going to say it like it is.

I actually believe that the focus of one particular group on the basis of race or religion can be deemed as racist and as discriminatory.

Would you agree that members of Asian gangs, black gangs, Mexican gangs, and white supremacists have also been radicalized?

Would you say that those groups kill people? Individuals in those groups that kill people? Yes or no?

We insist, however, that this committee not fail to recognize that radicalism is not limited to Islam and in no way are all Muslims radical.

To hold a hearing implicating 3 million Americans in the public eye for the actions of just over 100 is beyond saddening.

These hearings threaten to reduce, rather than enhance, our security.

This hearing is deeply unsettling. First, it fails to address radicalism in general, choosing instead to focus only on American Muslims.

It creates a narrative that this Government is against you and it creates a narrative that it is anti-Islam and anti-Muslim.

So as a minority, I would advocate to people, in particular minorities, that they should have their attorney present when being investigated.

The narrow scope of this hearing is discriminatory and demonstrates an abuse of power.

I vehemently oppose the approach this committee is taking in this hearing.

I proudly lend my voice as a dissenting view to the approach used at examining homegrown terrorism.

I am concerned that the President's budget seeks to eliminate the Emergency Operations Centers operated by FEMA.

The 37th Congressional District of California, which I am privileged to represent, has a vital interest in ensuring our homeland security needs are adequately funded.

If a terrorist successfully carried out an attack on one of the chemical facilities in my district the death count would be significantly higher.

It is my prerogative to make sure that not only the chemical facilities in my district are protected against a potential terrorist attack, but that all facilities across the country are secure against attacks.

The chemical industry employs nearly a million Americans and accounts for nearly $600 billion of our Nation's GDP.

What percentage of people being looked at [by your agency] for domestic terror threats were Muslim?

We are not in agreement with an 18-month extension and we would like to move forward, and I would like that message to be delivered to the President and to the Administration.

I think our Chairman was right and I think the President was clearly wrong.

If someone on the back of a ship shoots and kills someone who shouldn't have been responded to in that way, that is bad for all of us.

We need to judge you on the work that you are doing, and the work that you are doing is excellent.

Therefore, my first priority is preserving the jobs already in the 37th District, such as the last surviving middle-class jobs derived from Boeing's C-17 production facility in Long Beach, California.

Failure to establish an Air Force aircraft needs assessment and long term procurement process will have a detrimental effect of losing over 30,000 jobs nationally.