Opposition to Cutting Funding to FEMA

Floor Speech

The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Richardson) for 5 minutes.

Ms. RICHARDSON. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak in opposition to H.R. 1. First of all, I want to begin my comments by talking about last night, a couple issues that were so important to many of us. Number one, COPS grant funding, and also CDBG, which stands for Community Development Block Grants.

Now, I don't know about many of you, but I started my legislative career in local government, and, for most of us, we know that COPS grant funding is what actually puts the police officers on the streets, in the neighborhoods, that can help protect the communities. Now, I would ask you, do you want to take two police officers out of your neighborhood? I don't think so.

I would ask the question, why are we willing to support police officers in Iraq and Afghanistan and to do nation building there, and yet we are not willing to do nation building in our own country? Something is wrong with this proposal today. We don't have the right priorities, and that is why I stand in opposition.

Community Development Block Grants. When I was on the city council, what did that fund? Parks, housing, to help businesses. Do we want to say no to that? Is that what really this budget is about? Is that where the abuses have been, in the neighborhoods? I wouldn't say yes to that.

So let me end with my last comments, which I am going to focus on, which is the committee of jurisdiction on which I serve. I am the ranking member of the Emergency Communications, Preparedness, and Response Subcommittee. I stand in opposition to Sections 1628 through 1634 and 1648 of this bill, which cut funding to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, also known as FEMA. I oppose these provisions because they are unwise, irresponsible, and they undermine what our Nation learned.

Do we want to go back? How many of us remember watching on television when we looked at 9/11. How many of us remember Hurricane Katrina. It wasn't that long ago, and I know I don't want to go back.

This bill that the Republicans have brought to the floor is reckless. It is not only reckless to our economy, it is reckless to the American workers, and, above all, it puts our national security in harm's way.

The terrorist acts of September 11 revealed the catastrophic consequences of our inability to communicate. Have we forgotten? We just got interoperable radios in my district in Signal Hill just last year. They are not all connected, and it is a huge vulnerability for all of us. Communication glitches also occurred during the response to Hurricane Katrina, yet the Republicans want to step back and terminate those grants for interoperable emergency communications.

Have we not learned anything? These draconian cuts will put our first responders at risk and slow down the response to terrorist attacks and natural disasters. I cannot in good conscience, and I don't think any of you can as well, accept these cuts to such vital pieces of emergency equipment that we all need and we depend upon.

Further, this shortsighted Republican plan also puts our Nation's firefighting ability at risk. Now, I am from California. We know about fires. We know about the need for firefighters. This bill would eliminate the Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response Grants program. You tell the resident who has lost their home that, oh, we will deal with this next year. Fires aren't something you plan. They are an emergency that has to be responded to.

So when we call upon our firefighters, the International Association of Firefighters, they are opposed to this. Why? Not because they are not being fiscally responsible, but because this bill would cut jobs, 5,200 jobs on top of the 5,000 firefighters we have already lost. Is your community willing to lose more firefighters? I don't think so.

The city of Compton in my district is the future home to an emergency operations communications center operated by FEMA. My district is home to several major oil refineries, gas treatment facilities, petrochemical facilities, and, of course, the challenges and opportunities of two ports, of both the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. These centralized major business economic engines thrive. But we also have problems sometimes, and that is why we need the appropriate support of fire and communications to protect them.

This Republican bill seeks to destroy jobs, to end operation centers, all of the things that we have learned from the past. I can't support depriving first responders of the equipment they need to do their jobs. I can't support this bill and hurt our firefighters, our police officers and those who choose to serve us.

So, Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to H.R. 1, and I urge my colleagues to really look at this bill closely and make sure that our communities aren't paying. But the real abuses that got us here, that is where the cuts should begin.

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