David Obey: “the Coast Guard has told us very clearly that if we provide this money now, they can get these additional 2,000 people…”

“the Coast Guard has told us very clearly that if we provide this money now, they can get these additional 2,000 people on board by October. They have also told us if we wait until the 2004 budget year that they cannot bring them on until April. That is a fact. Fact number two. The gentleman talks of $1 billion in ODP money that is not spent. The fact is it is not spent because the application period is open until April 22. It cannot be spent until that application period is finished. Thirdly, the fire grants for 2002. They are virtually all out. And for the fiscal 2003, the applications are still open, so again that money cannot be expected to be out of here. The agency assures us it will be out of here by June once the application period is finished. So I think the gentleman is using a lot of interesting numbers to make a point that does not exist.”