Joe Lieberman: “I believe my friends from New Jersey, New York, others who support this amendment, and I share the same goals: we want…”

“I believe my friends from New Jersey, New York, others who support this amendment, and I share the same goals: we want to ensure that those areas of our country that are predictably at higher risk of terrorism receive enough support to prevent and, if necessary, respond to attacks; we want to make our Nation as a whole a safer place. Where I must respectfully disagree, however, is in how best to accomplish those goals. This amendment would not do so. In May, when the Department of Homeland Security announced its 2006 homeland security grant awards, for States and also for urban areas, 48 States and the District of Columbia found they had lost money from the year before. Many of these States, Connecticut and New York included, lost substantial sums. This was not primarily because of a change in the formula, however; it was because funding for these critical programs had been reduced by 29 percent. Since 2004, these programs have been cut in half, so there is increasingly less funding for all. I was therefore disappointed yesterday to see the Senate reject Senator Clinton's amendment--which both Senator Menendez and I cosponsored--that would have restored some of this funding. The fundamental problem here is the shrinking pie, not how we divide it.…”