Political Quotes

“I thank the gentlewoman, first of all, for a very powerful statement. Secondly, just to paint a picture very quickly, my area is an area that is a very vulnerable area. We have a great port. We have a major transit system. We have laboratories, universities, a very high-risk area. We are severely underfunded. Our first responders do not have the resources, our schools do not have the resources, our ports still do not have the resources. We need to be able to check containers before they are put on the ships and brought over to our country. Our police officers are getting cut. We do not have the funding for police officers. Our county submitted an excellent application 2 years ago. It is still not fully funded. I believe for the most part the majority of California has not been funded in terms of homeland security. This budget I do not think steps up to the plate. Domestic security should be our first priority in terms of the fight against terrorism. Again, I do not believe that our budget and this budget reflects that. So I say to the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Corrine Brown), we are going to have an uphill battle this year. But I think the American people are waking up and understanding that we do have some issues with regard to national security.”