Political Quotes

“I thank the chairman for yielding, and thank him for the great work he's doing chairing this subcommittee in the House. As Chairman Alderholt has said, SAFER was originally authorized for the purpose of increasing the number of new firefighters in local communities, a hand up, not a handout. SAFER was not intended to rehire or retain firefighters, and certainly was not intended to serve as an operating subsidy for what is unquestionably a municipal local responsibility. The Federal Fire Prevention and Control Act contains very specific requirements that local communities have to meet in order to obtain funds. However, the Democrats waived many of these requirements in fiscal 2009 and then again in 2010. When initially proposed by the Democrats in 2009, then Chairman Price, my friend, acknowledged that these waivers were just a short- term, temporary effort that would expire at the end of fiscal 2010. Yet, here we are today, debating the continuation of a subsidy that our country simply cannot afford. Under these costly waivers, there are no controls, no salary limits, no local commitments. These proposed waivers totally undermine the original purpose and intent of the SAFER program by forcing the taxpayers to subsidize the everyday operating expenses of local first responders, taking over, in essence, the funding of the local firemen.…”