Marcy Kaptur: “the people of Ohio are wondering why the Bush administration has turned its back on them. After all, Ohio was the…”

“the people of Ohio are wondering why the Bush administration has turned its back on them. After all, Ohio was the linchpin State in the Bush victory in 2004. Now, what else can Ohioans think? The Bush administration has just cut the funding for homeland security in Ohio and its major cities by one-third. Over $8.5 million was cut. Last year, Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati, Toledo, the four largest Ohio cities received $26.1 million in antiterrorism funding; this year $17.6 million, an $8.5 million reduction. Why? Surely President Bush does not think the terrorist threat has diminished. If he does, perhaps he should read the newspapers. Dateline Toronto, the Canadian Government just broke up an alleged terrorist ring in Ontario Province. That is on the north side of Lake Erie, and Ohio shares a border across that lake with Canada. And that ring apparently possessed enough material, 3 tons of it, to cause an explosion three times larger than that which destroyed the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City in 1995. If that is not enough to think about, Mogadishu, Somalia, has just fallen into the hands of Muslim militia groups in what the New York Times calls ``a setback for U.S. policy.'' Now that failed state might become another stronghold for al Qaeda. That is not good news. How about Baghdad? The violence in Iraq continues to escalate. And in Kabul the situation in Afghanistan continues to deteriorate.…”