Political Quotes

“This bipartisan amendment that I am offering along with Congressman Heck would help address some of our concerns about the calculations in the Urban Area Security Initiative funding formula. UASI provides critical funding to cities that are at risk for a terrorist attack. {time} 1420 As a member of the authorizing committee for the Department of Homeland Security, I want to work with the appropriators on this concern. I have become deeply concerned about how the formula currently being used by the Department of Homeland Security will determine eligibility for this funding. The formula sometimes counts multiple buildings as a single site, something that shortchanges the Las Vegas Strip. It also punishes cities for successfully implementing anti-terror programs. Well, we should not be the victims of our own success. As it stands now, critical anti-terror programs for major tourist destinations around the country are being defunded, including for Las Vegas, New Orleans, and Orlando, to name a few. That's the Las Vegas Strip, the site of Mardi Gras, and Disney World. This is not an issue of budget cuts. It's an issue of prioritization. It's an issue of a faulty policy that completely ignores some major international tourist destinations and the threat posed to them.…”