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Contact: Helen Machado
202-225-1766
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Congresswoman Roybal-Allard Blasts Drastic Cuts in Republican Homeland Security Spending Bill
Washington,
Jun 1, 2011 -
Calling the measure irresponsible and a threat to our nation’s security, Congresswoman Lucille Roybal-Allard (CA-34) spoke against the Republican federal spending bill for homeland security programs today.
A member of the Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee, Congresswoman Roybal-Allard charged that the spending cuts in the legislation would severely hamper our nation’s ability to respond quickly to emergencies and prevent terrorist attacks.
The bill cuts $1.1 billion from current homeland security spending and would result in the severe underfunding of key firefighter assistance grants used to help local departments purchase equipment and hire personnel. The legislation also slashes funding by 55 percent for important state and local security grants of critical importance to Los Angeles and other major cities, including the Urban Area Security Initiative and grants for transit and port security.
The Homeland Security Appropriations bill for FY 2012 (HR 2017) funds a wide-variety of public safety initiatives administered by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and its agencies including Citizenship and Immigration Services, Customs and Border Protection, Federal Emergency Management Agency, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Transportation Security Administration and the U.S. Coast Guard.
Members of the U.S. House of Representatives are expected to vote on the legislation this week.
The congresswoman’s full statement is as follows:
“Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong opposition to HR 2017. This is an irresponsible bill that slashes over a billion dollars from programs that support the ability of our police, firefighters and emergency medical personnel to quickly and adequately respond to a disaster or a terrorist attack.
Just recently, the destructive flooding across the Mississippi basin and the devastating tornados in Alabama and Missouri demonstrated the need for a rapid and effective response to save lives.
This is true for other parts our country like my home city of Los Angeles which is vulnerable to fires and earthquakes and is one of the top 10 targets for a terrorist attack.
My police departments, firefighters and first responders have said that the cuts in this bill will delay the implementation of their badly needed inter-operable communication system which is critical to emergency coordination efforts. It was the lack of this kind of technology during the 9-11 attacks that contributed to hundreds of deaths.
The cuts in this bill also jeopardize the security of our nation’s ports. The Port of Los Angeles/Long Beach for example tells us that the cuts to Port Security grants would seriously threaten their ability to protect the port and to continue critical security training programs. An attack on this complex alone would have devastating consequences on our economy.
FEMA Director Craig Fugate testified before our Subcommittee that degrading the capabilities of state and local governments would likely magnify the impact of a disaster and ultimately increase the total cost to taxpayers. This bill turns a blind eye to these realities.
It is a dangerous bill that weakens our national security and undermines the ability of our first responders to safely meet the dangerous challenges they face every day.
America can’t cut its way to greater security. Today’s realities require that our first responders and our Department of Homeland Security receive funding commensurate with the scale and severity of the threats America faces.
I call on my colleagues to join me in opposing HR 2017.”
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