John Shaw: “I rise again today to protest the unfair allocation of urban area security funding by the city of Miami. Miami is…”

“I rise again today to protest the unfair allocation of urban area security funding by the city of Miami. Miami is unfairly withholding the essential funds that my district needs to improve antiterrorism measures. The city of Miami wants to keep the lion's share of the urban area security funding and to buy a helicopter, a helicopter, when Broward is receiving an embarrassing 10 percent of the money and Palm Beach County is receiving zero dollars. It is ridiculous for Miami to be buying a helicopter with tax dollars of hard-working Americans. That is just plain egregious. All Broward and Palm Beach counties want is a fair share of what we need to protect our citizens against a terrorist attack. One month after the 9/11 attack, anthrax was used to kill Robert Stevens, a 63-year-old photo editor in Palm Beach. And it is well known that the 9/11 terrorists made south Florida their base of operation. How much more evidence do we need to prove that Broward and Palm Beach counties are at risk and that we need some Federal assistance to help us address these very real threats. The city of Miami cannot be trusted to spend in money on behalf of the region. President Bush, Secretary Ridge, Attorney General Ashcroft, Governor Bush, on down to the American taxpayers ought to be livid at what is going on. I know I am and so are my constituents.”