Joe Lieberman: “The first two amendments, one offered by the Senator from California and the second offered by the Senator from…”

“The first two amendments, one offered by the Senator from California and the second offered by the Senator from Illinois, are an attempt to get more funding for the large States at the expense of the smaller States, and there is a myth around about the fact that the larger States are not being adequately funded. The fact is that under the fiscal year 2006 homeland security grant funding, five States-- California, Texas, New York, Florida, and Illinois--received 42 percent of the antiterrorism funds, while 20 States received less than 12 percent cumulatively. California received in fiscal year 2006 as much money as the 22 States at the bottom in funding. What I am saying is, somebody said the money is being spread across the country like peanut butter. No way. There is a lot of peanut butter and jelly going to the larger States. They deserve it, but they would, by these two amendments, take even more money, as the Senator from Vermont quite movingly demonstrated in his rollcall of the losing States. Why do the smaller States deserve something? Because that is the nature of the enemy. Everybody is vulnerable to this terrorist enemy to some degree.”