Thad Cochran: “We ought not to be getting into the business in the Senate of deciding for States and localities how they spend this…”

“We ought not to be getting into the business in the Senate of deciding for States and localities how they spend this grant money or how they spend the SAFER Act money. We need to have the flexibility to make those decisions with State and local governments. If we start telling a fire department they have to buy equipment with this amount of money, that they have to train people with this other amount of money, they have to equip trucks and vehicles with this amount, this amount is for that or the other, we are making a big mistake. We are not the managers of these departments. We are not in the position to make the best decisions about how to efficiently use funds from Washington that will help our communities be safer and improve the quality of service provided by firefighters, law enforcement personnel, emergency management workers, or the rest. That is why the grant programs are broad and general. The States develop the plans for using the funds available to them from the Department of Homeland Security in many of these areas. It is the States and localities we ought to depend on to make the best decisions.”