On the recordDecember 14, 2011
As a member of the Committee on Homeland Security, I rise to express my concern about the direction of the Urban Area Security Initiative program. UASI was created to develop capabilities to prevent and to respond to attacks and catastrophes in our most vulnerable cities. The program has helped develop joint initiatives among local governments in my community of Buffalo-Niagara. We have an obligation to protect this investment and the capability gains developed across the country. Yet recent drastic cuts in the UASI funding have resulted in the elimination of 32 of the 64 urban areas from the program. That puts the preparedness and security capability gains we've achieved at risk. In order to raise awareness of this problem, this week I formed the Preserving UASI Capability Gains Caucus with Congressman Steve Stivers of Columbus, Ohio. I also introduced legislation to preserve the capability gains achieved by communities like Buffalo that were dropped from the UASI program. I urge my colleagues who represent UASI communities to join our caucus so that we can protect our capability gains and ensure our communities are properly secured. ____________________
