Steven Holt: “I thank the chair of this subcommittee and the ranking member for the work they've put into this. I rise with an…”

“I thank the chair of this subcommittee and the ranking member for the work they've put into this. I rise with an amendment that is designed to ensure that our rail and transit systems have the additional resources, or at least some of the additional resources, that they need to help thwart any potential terrorist attacks on buses and trains. Now, just over a year ago, when our forces raided Osama bin Laden's compound, they discovered materials in his hideout indicating that he was planning attacks on rail and transit systems, and we have no reason to believe that al Qaeda's remnants have abandoned any such plans. As we've seen repeatedly, the threat is very real. Since 2004, terrorist cells have conducted successful and deadly bombings on major passenger rail systems in Spain, the United Kingdom, India, Belarus, with over 600 people killed, thousands wounded. And despite this threat, over the last few years, our country has been backsliding in providing our rail and transit systems the resources they need. In years past, rail and transit security funding had its own line item in the budget. But a couple of years ago, it was rolled into the overall State and local grant programs, and it's funding has been slashed, and slashed is not an overstatement, from a previous high of $300 million, down to only about $88 million this past year.…”