Political Quotes

“we appreciate the Senator from Nevada bringing this issue to the attention of the Senate by offering this amendment. His amendment goes directly to the provision of the bill that provides funds for discretionary grants to high threat urban areas. In the bill, we provide an appropriation for this program of $750 million. These are discretionary grants to be made by the Office for Domestic Preparedness to those who are considered by the Department to be in need of these funds to better protect the security of these specific urban areas. This is a discretionary program, and we are hoping that by defining the criteria to be considered by the Department, we help encourage the selection of sites. But we don't pretend to make those decisions here in the Senate or in the Congress. These are administrative decisions. If we got into the business of deciding which areas of the country, specifically which urban areas of the country should be entitled to these funds, it would be a very unwieldy process. What we have done is to try to define the kinds of characteristics that should be taken into account by the administration as they make decisions in the awarding of these grants. Vulnerability is one of those criteria. I will read now from the committee report, page 48, where this grant program is described. It says: The Committee expects the [Office for Domestic Preparedness] to allocate these funds no later than 30 days after enactment of the act.…”