Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2012

Floor Speech

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Ms. MOORE. I rise to support this amendment. In fact, I had an identical amendment to strike this restrictive language with respect to the Urban Area Security Initiative.

In fiscal year 2010, over 60 urban areas, including my own City of Milwaukee, were eligible for formula assistance under this grant because they met the Department of Homeland Security's risk assessment analysis. But the legislation before us would arbitrarily tie the Secretary's hands from distributing these funds to any cities that fall outside the top 10 so-called most vulnerable.

Since 2004, the city of Milwaukee and the surrounding counties that surround Milwaukee, Ozaukee, Racine, Washington, and Waukesha have obtained nearly $400 million in this UASI funding to enhance the safety of over 2 million residents. And even though this assistance has been small, we are very, very proud of what we have been able to accomplish in terms of securing the area.

For example, in Milwaukee, my constituents are safer because we have used this assistance to train emergency medical teams, train and equip hazardous material and bomb squads, create continuity of operations plans, and to analyze intelligence. It also helps to fund our Intelligence Fusion Center, a place to collect and exchange information from government, public safety, private sector, and all levels of enforcement. And I have heard concerns from our mayor, police chief, fire chief about whether or not we could continue to manage disaster funding without this funding.

And the concerns aren't just limited to being prepared for acts of terrorism. The loss of this funding would disable us from being prepared to respond to large-scale emergencies such as flooding or tornadoes. I can tell you that it is pennywise and pound foolish to simply arbitrarily limit this funding. It just doesn't make any sense to go backwards.

You've heard here already on this floor that officials have reported that Osama bin Laden's documents even schooled his followers to avoid U.S. counterterrorist defenses. He said don't limit attacks to New York City. Consider other areas, or smaller cities. Spread out the targets. We just might as well fax al Qaeda the list of urban areas that will lose Federal support, areas like Phoenix, Anaheim/Santa Ana, Riverside, Denver, Miami-Dade/Fort Lauderdale/Palm Beach, Orlando, Tampa, Atlanta, Baltimore, Detroit, Twin Cities, St. Louis, Las Vegas, Charlotte, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Portland, Pittsburgh, Norfolk, Seattle, Tucson, Bakersfield, Oxnard, Sacramento, Bridgeport, Hartford, Jacksonville, Honolulu, Indianapolis, Louisville, Baton Rouge, New Orleans, Kansas City, Omaha, Albany, Buffalo, Syracuse, Rochester, Columbus, Toledo, Oklahoma City, Tulsa, San Juan, Providence, Memphis, Nashville, Austin, El Paso, San Antonio, Salt Lake City, Richmond, and Milwaukee.

This amendment is simple, budget neutral, and gives the administrative power back to the experts who are there solely to keep our cities and country safe.

I yield back the balance of my time.

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