Susan Collins: “as I understand it, the latest CRS analysis--as I understand it from press accounts since, again, the Senator has not…”

“as I understand it, the latest CRS analysis--as I understand it from press accounts since, again, the Senator has not been willing to share it with my office--is once again flawed. It does not take into account the sliding scale minimum allocation that is included in the Collins-Lieberman amendment. This sliding scale minimum distributes 10.7 percent of the funds in our bill based on population and population density. Those are two risk factors that are used by the Department of Homeland Security to distribute risk-based funds. I note, because I want to give credit where credit is due, that the proposal for this sliding scale minimum came from our colleague, a senior member of the committee, Senator Levin of Michigan. Let's look at the real numbers. The fact is there is a doubling in the amount of money that is based on risk under our amendment. The legislation before us emphasizes risk-based funding and doubles the amount of money compared to current law that would be allocated based on risk. The Committee on Homeland Security has done a great deal of work on this formula. I think we see today the problems that occur when we try to write a formula not in committee, not based on careful hearings, input from all interested parties, two markups, 3 years of deliberations by the committee, but instead try to cobble together an amendment on the Senate floor. I have heard again today the comparison that Wyoming gets more money on a per capita basis.…”