Bob Menendez: “I worked to include language in the markup that ensures improving this backlog is a top priority, and I commend the…”

“I worked to include language in the markup that ensures improving this backlog is a top priority, and I commend the effort by Senator Lincoln to dedicate funding to fixing the flawed claims process. This budget will do what should have been done long before our troops began coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan--begin to repair a broken system that has failed our veterans. Our budget will also ensure that as we wage a war abroad, we do not forget our fight here at home to protect our Nation. This budget not only rejects the President's shortsighted proposal to slash more than $1 billion from first responder programs, but it provides much needed increases for homeland security grants, including enough to fund port security grants at their authorized level of $400 million, doubling rail and transit security, and doubling chemical security funds. We also restore the President's cuts to the COPS Program, which would have left almost no funds to help law enforcement hire additional officers and improve technology. We reject the President's proposal to slash firefighter grants in half and eliminate SAFER grants. This budget means the difference between shortchanging our police and fire departments and providing them the resources to meet the challenges in our communities. Finally, the bottom line is our Nation will see a difference when we pass this budget. They will see a brighter outlook down the road. The Nation is watching.”