Rep. Garrett Authors Risk-Based Homeland Security Funding Amendment
Washington,
May 8, 2007 -
Congressman Garrett will testify before the House Committee on Rules this afternoon in support of his amendment to the Homeland Security Authorization bill making distribution of homeland security funding more risk-based so that high-risk areas like North Jersey would get more funds.
Currently, homeland security funds are distributed based on a fundamentally flawed formula that does not adequately account for the greater risks to major metropolitan centers like North Jersey/New York City. Congressman Garrett’s amendment, if adopted, would change the formula to grant high-risk areas a fairer share of homeland security funds. This amendment is based on language that overwhelmingly passed the House of Representatives in 2005 but was not passed by the Senate.
Congressman Garrett has long been at the forefront of the fight to improve homeland security in the North Jersey and New York areas, particularly with regard to risk-based funding, increased port security, and communications interoperability.
Before the hearing, Congressman Garrett said, “I’m looking forward to the opportunity to bring North Jersey’s concerns to the committee and certainly hope that they agree that North Jersey and similarly situated areas are at greater risk of a terror attack and that we need a greater share of homeland security funding. I hope that my colleagues on both sides of the aisle will see that this is a commonsense amendment and change the homeland security formula to more accurately reflect the greater threat we face in North Jersey.”
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