María Elvira Salazar: “In the transportation committee, we have asked for an $18 million supplemental to construct an above-ground tunnel for…”

“In the transportation committee, we have asked for an $18 million supplemental to construct an above-ground tunnel for the Transportation Technology Center in Pueblo, Colorado. These are the folks that actually do the first responder training in many instances. You have seen the bombings of the subways in Europe, and you look at how vulnerable we are here in this country. And being able to construct that tunnel, we can train our first responders in such a way that we don't have to interrupt our subway services. But I would like to talk a little bit also about something that is very near and dear to my heart when it comes to national security. I think that one of the most critical issues in national security is to make sure that this country never becomes dependent on another country to produce our food, as we have become dependent on other countries to produce our oil. So it really bothers me when, for example, in the ag committee we who are there to represent agriculture begin cutting programs that actually keep farmers and ranchers on the land, and farmers and ranchers who produce the greatest food supply in the world. And so I think that is critical. We must make sure that farmers and ranchers stay on the land and we have an adequate food supply. You saw what happened when, during the first Gulf War when Saddam Hussein's troops had to give up because they didn't have enough food to eat. Let that never happen to our troops.”