Political Quotes

“I rise today to speak, once again, about the urgent needs in our local communities for hometown security-- efforts for us to support local police and firefighters and emergency medical workers, including those in our local emergency rooms at our hospitals. These people are on the front lines of any terrorist attack that our citizens may face in the days or weeks or months ahead. Many of us have been talking, since just after 9/11, about the importance of partnering with local communities, and that it is not enough to ask our local sheriffs, firefighters, police officers, and others in the communities, to assume this additional set of duties relating to national security without having the support and assistance of the Federal Government. I commend all of my colleagues and the President for coming together to make sure our men and women in the armed services have what they need at this critical time. We have come forward with substantial increases in the Department of Defense, and I am sure we will continue to do so. But when it comes to the home front, we have not yet done what needs to be done. There is a growing sense of urgency and bewilderment in our communities here at home about why this has not occurred and why the President is not supporting the efforts that we have put forward.”