Political Quotes

“in closing, I would urge all my colleagues to support this bill. I would remind my colleagues that it was clearly a bipartisan bill. It passed 28-0. I want to particularly thank Mr. Pascrell, Mr. Thompson, Mrs. Lowey, and Mr. Reichert. This has bipartisan spirit behind it from the start. I would just note that interoperability is very important. We saw with 9/11 that our firefighters didn't get the message, they stayed in the buildings, and they died. With Katrina, we saw the Coast Guard folks couldn't communicate with the law enforcement folks at the bottom of the helicopter ladders. It needs to change. That is why we reserved part of the spectrum, as part of the reconciliation bill earlier this year, to retrieve it from the broadcasters and to be able to sell it so that, in fact, that analog spectrum will be available. In addition, of course, we had $1 billion that was part of that sale that was reserved specifically on matching grants to first responders across the country. It is very important. It is not the end. We need to do more. I realize it, and we are prepared to do such. So I was pleased to see that legislation move forward. This is yet another step. It passed 28-0 in committee. I would like to think that when we have a vote on this later this afternoon, it might be able to pass 433-0, knowing that we have two vacancies in the House at this point.”