Political Quotes

“I thank the gentleman for yielding, and I want to echo his sentiments. I rise in support of my joint amendment with Congressman Cicilline to restore $337 million to the Urban Areas Security Initiative grants program, which would fund the program at the FY 2010 level. In my home State of Rhode Island, a counterterrorism fusion center, regional cyber defense measures, and chemical, biological, and nuclear detection assets support response efforts across southern New England. A Level I trauma center and the Port of Providence are also critical assets for the region. These homeland defense capabilities are in jeopardy, however, due to the cuts to the Urban Areas Security Initiative grant program in this bill. The UASI grants were specifically designed to make sure that densely populated areas with critical assets were adequately funded and protected. Now, because of the cuts in this program, this is an example of what I believe are an irresponsible and arbitrary approach to budget cutting that jeopardizes safety throughout the region in case of an attack or natural disaster. So I applaud my colleague and look forward to working with him on this issue. I urge my colleagues to support the Cicilline-Langevin amendment.”