Martin Sabo: “We have to choose between budgets and priorities. Plain and simple, this administration and the Republicans on that side…”

“We have to choose between budgets and priorities. Plain and simple, this administration and the Republicans on that side of the aisle have said that tax cuts for the wealthy are a higher priority than adequate funding for first responders. My first responders are crying out for interoperable communications. What was the response of the Bush administration? Zero. They zeroed it out of the budget this year. I cannot even try and add money back into it because it does not exist anymore in the Federal budget. That is the number one priority of the police and fire in my State. Who are we going to call? Who are going to be the first people there? Not the Army, not the military, not any Federal agencies. It is going to be our local responders. And they are not even going to be able to communicate among one another, let alone with State or Federal authorities. This bill does not have enough money to meet the homeland security needs of this country.”