Xavier Becerra: “Mr. Speaker, today in Los Angeles, the Los Angeles International Airport will lose more than $1 million, as it has since…”

“Mr. Speaker, today in Los Angeles, the Los Angeles International Airport will lose more than $1 million, as it has since September 11. Half of that loss is due to the fact that it had to increase security and half of that loss is due to lost revenues. Today in Los Angeles, our hazardous material crew within the Los Angeles Police Department is operating in cruisers, regular cruiser vehicles, where it has to put all of its equipment in the front and back seats of its vehicle and the trunk because it does not have the appropriate vehicles to carry all of its equipment to safeguard, to be the frontline defense against anthrax and all hazardous materials, biological or chemical. And today, Mr. Speaker, the Mayor of my city, along with just about every other Mayor in this country, is meeting with the Bush administration to figure out what we do about security. Today, I say to my colleagues, what are we doing? We are talking about giving away $159 billion over the next 10 years, and what will that do to address the concerns that those mayors are talking to the Bush administration about today? Not a thing. Not a thing. I say to my colleagues, we owe it to the American people to provide them security. I say to my colleagues, we owe it to the American people to provide the confidence to buy again, to fly again.”