David Price: “I want to take just a minute, if I might, to talk about what the committee, in fact, has done about grants and what kind…”

“I want to take just a minute, if I might, to talk about what the committee, in fact, has done about grants and what kind of funding is available for those versus what we're going to appropriate for fiscal 2008. We have made some key investments in this bill in State and local grants. The State grants are a modest increase over last year, something like 6 percent. But we've made much more substantial increases in transit and rail grants, which I think, on a bipartisan basis, Members of this House have said is a vulnerability. Certainly they said that on the port security matter with the Safe Ports Act. We have made some increases there. Fire grants, have broad bipartisan support, as does the SAFER program. So in a number of these areas, we have gone somewhat above last year's funding and above the President's request. But we've done that on the basis of strong evidence and strong bipartisan support that this is needed. Now, what about the allegation that this money is in the pipeline, that we really don't need to turn to the appropriations process for additional funding? The charge was made that there's $5 billion unspent in these grant programs. Well, $4 billion of that is obligated. That leaves $1 billion.”