OFFICIALS LEGISLATION INTEREST GROUPS PUBLIC STATEMENTS COMMITTEES VETOES

Faster and Smarter Funding for First Responders Act

Date: May 12, 2005
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: National Security


FASTER AND SMARTER FUNDING FOR FIRST RESPONDERS ACT -- (House of Representatives - May 12, 2005)

Ms. LORETTA SANCHEZ of California. Mr. Chairman, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 1544, the Faster and Smarter Funding for First Responders Act of 2005.

The bill we are voting on today is an important piece of legislation designed to better support our first responders so that they can help protect and defend our citizens against terrorist attack.

I strongly support H.R. 1544 and am proud to be a cosponsor, along with all of my colleagues on the Homeland Security committee, from which this legislation passed unanimously.

I would like to congratulate Chairman COX, Chairman KING, Ranking Member THOMPSON and Ranking Member PASCRELL for bringing this bill to the floor in an expeditious and bipartisan manner.

The core principle of the bill is to ensure that homeland security is always viewed through the lens of directing resources to address urgent security vulnerabilities in our country.

Security funding is fundamentally different than other funds such as highway money, where we try to spread the funds more-or-less evenly, and this bill reflects the changes needed in our thinking to address our homeland security needs.

I would also like to thank the chairmen and ranking members for including language from my proposed amendments that will:

Create an office of Comptroller within ODP to ensure oversight and accountability over funds moving through the pipeline;

Study the effects of waiving the Cash Management Improvement Act, so that its good governance intent does not have adverse consequences; and

Grant conditional authorization to the Secretary of Homeland Security to make direct payments to localities, should States be unable to pass grant funds through to the local recipients in a timely fashion.

These are all important tools that will ensure that resources necessary to protect our citizens are disbursed quickly and with strong accountability.

In closing I would like to reiterate my strong support of H.R. 1544 and urge all my colleagues to vote yes on this important piece of legislation.

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