[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 135 (Wednesday, October 10, 2001)]
[House]
[Pages H6494-H6498]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
MUNICIPAL PREPARATION AND STRATEGIC RESPONSE ACT
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of
January 3, 2001, the gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. Larson) is
recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader.
Mr. LARSON of Connecticut. Mr. Speaker, it is a great honor for me to
rise this evening and discuss very important legislation that we intend
to introduce tomorrow on the floor. My colleagues should know that this
is the collaboration of more than 45 Members of Congress who have gone
home and listened to their leaders, listened to their local fire
chiefs, police chiefs, emergency medical people, allied health
professionals, and who understand the importance of having a Municipal
Preparation and Strategic Response Act. That is what our bill is
called: the Municipal Preparation and Strategic Response Act of 2001.
The September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States has prompted
increasing debate and attention to several proposals addressing
homeland security in the United States at the Federal level. The
President is to be complimented for his appointment of Tom Ridge, who
we believe will do an outstanding job in spearheading this effort in
our Nation.
The one thing that the recent attack made clear was that for this new
kind of warfare being conducted against the United States, that those
truly in the frontline of defense are indeed our local firefighters,
our police force, our emergency medical teams, the allied health
professionals that get involved in meeting this kind of imminent
emergency.
{time} 1800
It has not been lost on Members of Congress as we have gone home to
our districts and talked to people about what has happened at the World
Trade Center, in the fields of Pennsylvania, and at the Pentagon that
the first to respond was not the FBI, the CIA, the FAA, or our Armed
Forces, but indeed, they were firefighters, they were police officers,
they were emergency medical teams, they were our allied health
professionals.
These are the individuals that are most in need, at this very
critical juncture of homeland defense, of the support and money
necessitated to carry out homeland defense to make sure that our people
here at home are safe and secure.
To do this, they require appropriate funding, and funding that will
allow them from the bottom up, starting with our local communities, to
become more involved with the strategic planning, and to be able to
coordinate with State and Federal agencies in such a manner that will
provide commonality of communication, that will allow them to prepare
themselves with the various kinds of equipment they are going to need
to handle this new threat, this new era that we are living in.
I am proud to join more than 45 Members in sponsoring this very
important legislation. The nuts and bolts of this legislation are as
follows:
This legislation would provide a total of $1 billion in funding to
towns, cities, and tribes for strategic planning needed to ensure that
local emergency responders, including municipal, private, and volunteer
fire departments, police departments, emergency medical technicians,
EMTs, paramedics, and other health professionals are fully prepared and
equipped and trained for emergency and security issues that arise from
terrorist attacks.
It would also provide for the development of coordinated regional
responses to terrorist attacks or other catastrophes utilizing Federal,
State, and local agencies, and provide an additional $250 million to
the COPS program and $250 million to the assistance to the firefighters
program to establish grants specifically for counterterrorism response,
training, and equipment; and most importantly, as we have heard from
all of our local officials, with no local matching funds required.
It is important to emphasize how critical it is that we are proposing
no local matching funds for these programs. The threat to our
communities is now, and we cannot give those at war with the United
States the opportunity to strike while our communities spend years
saving enough money to pay the local match for Federal grants to
provide the training and equipment necessary to safeguard the American
people today.
In the edition of the Hartford Courant this past Sunday in my
district, they talked about specific interviews they have had with
local police departments who say that they are in no way prepared for
the kind of terrorist threats that currently we can face here in this
Nation.
With the State Department predicting it is near a 100 percent
certainty that given the most recent attacks on Afghanistan that there
will be a response, it becomes abundantly clear that we need to make
sure that our front line defenders, that those who are the first to
respond to these attacks, have the money in place, the training in
place, the communication that is necessary in order for them to do
their jobs.
Our bill specifically establishes a $1 billion grant program for
cities, counties, towns, boroughs, tribes, and other municipal or
regional authorities to develop local emergency response plans that
include the following, and I think it important to enumerate on these
specific goals: That develop strategic response plans that provide for
a clearly defined and unified response to terrorist attacks or other
catastrophes. Municipal leaders feel very strongly, in acknowledging
their role as the first responders, that it is important that Congress
not make decisions in a vacuum; that we reach out to our local
municipalities, that we involve discussion from the bottom up, and not
foist a top-down decision upon them, so that we are better prepared to
coordinate the activities and procedures of various emergency response
units, and that we better define the relationship, the roles,
responsibilities, jurisdiction, command structures, and communication
protocols of emergency response units; that we coordinate response
procedures with similar emergency response units in neighboring units
of local government, as well as with State and Federal agencies; that
we identify potential local targets of terrorism, and include specific
response procedures for each potential target, notwithstanding concerns
about our local schools, about water supplies, about nuclear generating
power facilities. It is important that we take this kind of forward-
thinking action, and we do so now.
The bill will also allow communities to prepare and issue reports to
units of local government, State legislators, and Congress that include
recommendations for specific legislative action; conduct public forums
or other appropriate activities to educate the public about potential
threats and steps the public can take to prepare for them.
I do not think there is a community that any Member of Congress has
visited since September 11 where people have not been willing to roll
up their sleeves and say, what can we do to help? But in meeting with
our local officials, they have also said, as much as we are willing to
help, we lack the necessary resources to do so.
The best way that we can help and engage in homeland defense is to
make sure that our local municipalities have the resources available to
carry out this function.
To help accomplish this goal, we have asked FEMA to designate for
each State a representative, not to dictate but to assist and advise
units of local government with the development of a strategic response
plan, act as a liaison between units of local government, and
coordinate the sharing of information about Federal Government
initiatives and protocol.
It is clear in talking to a number of local officials, as well, that
the commonality of communication is at the heart of being able to
respond successfully. It is this commonality that local municipalities
seek, recognizing that
[[Page H6495]]
to have commonality nationwide is going to require an enormous effort
with regard to coordinating all the various agencies at local, State,
and Federal levels.
But it definitely needs the input of our local municipalities. It
definitely needs the information that so many of them are anxious to
share with us. It definitely requires the kind of coordination that
will identify the gaps in our program, will identify where there are
overlaps, and seek to better coordinate our response, no matter what
the act of terrorism may be.
It is so critical, as we have witnessed in what happened and
transpired in New York, in the fields of Pennsylvania, and at the
Pentagon.
I am proud that this is a bipartisan effort, as well, and that
Members like the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Weldon), the founder
of the Congressional Fire Services Caucus, is a cosponsor, and the
gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Stupak), who heads up the Congressional
Law Enforcement Caucus, is also a sponsor of this critical legislation
that has more than 45 Members who have already signed on.
I am also pleased to announce that we have met with several groups
representing first responders. They have agreed with the need to have a
coordinated local approach, including the National Association of
Police Organizations, the National Sheriffs Association, the
International Arson Investigators, the National Volunteer Fire Council,
the Congressional Fire Services Institute, and the National Association
for Fire Chiefs.
In addition, we are also in the process of soliciting input from the
National Council of Mayors, the National Association of Counties, the
National League of Cities, the National Association of Regional
Councils, and the New England Association of Regional Councils; the
point being, here again, of making sure that as we put forward
solutions to this problem, as we seek to work with Tom Ridge and the
administration, and as Congress seeks to look at this issue in a rather
broad fashion, that we not forget our local communities, that we not
forget who indeed are the first responders, that we not forget who
truly are our front line of defense.
One can only recall the statements of so many of us who have been to
New York, and so many people who have talked about the faces of the
heroes that they saw climbing up the stairs to go save those who were
in need. They were valiant heroes. The best thing I believe that we can
do to respect their memory is to make sure that we are providing the
appropriate kind of funding, and the ability for them to respond with
the kind of equipment and the kind of training and strategy necessary
to defend against terrorist attacks.
I am pleased to be joined by an esteemed colleague on the Committee
on Armed Services who understands this issue very well, and has always
been in the forefront of supporting local firefighters and policemen,
as well.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from California (Ms.
Sanchez).
Ms. SANCHEZ. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for yielding to me. I
heard the gentleman while I was watching in my office. I thought I
would really like to come down and talk a little bit about what has
happened.
I was in New York yesterday, and I know that many of the people who
worked in the buildings in the World Trade Center came from
Connecticut. My husband used to work in one of those towers, so that we
are very well aware that Connecticut lost several people in that
tragedy.
I ask the gentleman, was it not wonderful to see our firefighters and
our police officers, and even those people who volunteered their time
in our emergency, people who respond in emergencies, who went down to
help during this disaster, this real disaster that happened to our
country?
Somebody was asking me the other day when I was talking to some of
the volunteers, the Red Cross volunteers in New York yesterday, someone
said to me, did you in California, my State, really even understand
what this all is about? And I looked at them, and I said, ``You are
looking at volunteers who are from California who have come to spend 2
or 3 weeks here to try to help, even if it is just to serve food to
these firefighters and servicemen and women who are working down at
ground zero; or the fact that these planes had people headed to Los
Angeles, many of them from my region. They also died in this disaster
in New York.
It is not just that. As we went around, I was kind of laughing. I saw
one day on the television the Oregon delegation had taken 1,000 people
to New York to try to spend money, because they had heard that so many
people were out of work in New York. I think of the devastation, the
real devastation and the toll on a city.
We from California are also pretty based on tourism. My own district
has Disneyland in it, the happiest place on Earth. Today, it does not
have a lot of people there, which means the people are losing their
jobs, hotels are having to shut down, restaurants are not serving food.
So this devastation has gone not just to New York or to the Pentagon
area, but really across the Nation.
I wanted to come down, and I know that the gentleman and I have
spoken so often about all the work that is being done in New York.
These people who are doing this, whether they are being paid, whether
they are our firefighters, whether they are our reservists or our
National Guard or just our volunteers, have their whole heart in it.
Across America, we are suffering because of this attack.
Mr. LARSON of Connecticut. I thank the gentlewoman from California
for sharing with us her experience and the sentiments, not only of
people from her native California, but people across this great Nation
of ours.
I believe the silver lining of all of this is that we are a nation
that has come together. It is clear that September 11 has perhaps
forever changed this Nation, but perhaps also with an eye toward our
communities coming together, with neighbors caring more about one
another, with specific outreach that is going on in our communities.
{time} 1815
In going back to my community and talking to a number of the
firefighters and emergency medical people who, in fact, went to New
York City as well, the volunteer efforts across the Nation have just
been outstanding.
I come back to the point, though, of our legislation, which is the
one thing the municipal leaders have said to me repeatedly is let us
make sure when Congress gets together that it does not forget who, in
fact, are their front-line defenders, who are the first responders; and
as the case is with homeland defense, any act of terrorism is more
likely to have firefighters, police officers, sheriffs, emergency
medical teams, allied health professionals, all being the first people
to arrive on the scene. Therefore, they want to be included in the
planning.
Forty-five legislatures have already signed on to the proposal, also
feel very strongly about meeting with Tom Ridge and his new task force
which is an enormous responsibility. And, again, we applaud the
President for his selection and look forward to working with him in
this endeavor but want to make sure that we get bottom-up solutions as
well from those that are in the front lines.
They are all asking what they can do to help, and they are anxious to
provide the Nation with their knowledge, with their expertise. We ought
to highlight and spotlight these individuals who are in the field, who
do understand intuitively some of the problems we are going to face,
and to develop a commonality of communication to get them the strategic
planning money that they are going to need, the funding for equipment
that they are going to need, to deal with heretofore issues that while
they may have been talked about in the press, while we may have heard
about them for some time, September 11 has changed all that, and now we
have got to respond and the time for us to act is now.
Ms. SANCHEZ. Madam Speaker, if the gentleman would yield, I would say
to the gentleman that he and I have had many conversations, not just
here on the floor but in our walks and in talking every day. And we are
very concerned that the money that we are spending, and let us face it,
we are spending billions of dollars since September 11 on security and
on helping the airline industry; and we are very
[[Page H6496]]
concerned, whether it is the employees who are being laid off and their
need for medical care, for health insurance, whether it is for
unemployment benefits lasting longer than 26 weeks, whether it is what
is happening to the people being laid off at motels as I see in my
district.
It also is about the fact that when these types of attacks hit, it
could happen in a city where the Federal Government cannot get to it.
We just cannot get in there fast enough, and what we will need is our
local firefighters and our local law enforcement officers. Our local
health clinics and hospitals will take the brunt of any other type of
attack like this, and we need to ensure that we are funding not only at
the top but also funding within communities, funding the workers,
funding the doctors, funding the hospitals, funding the ability of our
communities to respond.
Mr. LARSON of Connecticut. Madam Speaker, reclaiming my time, someone
who understands that and who has done an outstanding job in the 107th
Congress is the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Pascrell), who also is
currently on a terrorist task force and has been one of our leaders,
especially in the area of firefighting. And his bill last year I think
has done immeasurable good and hopefully with additional funding coming
forward will be able to assist again those very important front-line
defenders, our firefighters, the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr.
Pascrell).
Mr. PASCRELL. Madam Speaker, if the gentleman would yield, I would
say to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Sanchez) and the gentleman
from Connecticut (Mr. Larson) I am reminded when we discuss homeland
security and the great task that is before us all some words by Walt
Whitman when he was at this House, when he was at this very House
during the Civil War.
He wrote, ``One is not without impression after all amid these
Members of Congress of both Houses, that if the flat routine of their
duties should ever be broken in upon by some great emergency involving
real danger, in calling for first class personal qualities, those
qualities would be found generally forthcoming and for men not now
credited with them.''
I think those words are fitting and I want to commend my colleague,
the gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. Larson), and I want to commend the
gentlewoman from California (Ms. Sanchez), because the task is upon us.
I cannot emphasize enough to the Americans that are watching and
listening, I cannot emphasize enough how important that we need to
bring what we are talking about to the local level; and I want my
colleagues to know and I report to them that yesterday I convened a
meeting which we only had 2 days to put together of police chiefs in my
district, of fire chiefs in my district, of hospital administrators in
my district, of those who have dealt with infectious diseases, of the
emergency coordinators in two counties that I represent in New Jersey,
the State police who have done such a fantastic job in coordinating
things in our State of New Jersey.
That group that I have described, if we can hold them for more than a
half an hour together that is pretty good. I am lucky if I can hold my
family together for 5 minutes. We were there for 2 hours; and I say to
the gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. Larson), this should be a real
focus of our work, to get these folks who are so knowledgeable, who
understand what training means, who understand preparedness, who know
what communications will mean in times of tragedy, who know what
counseling is all about, we need to be speaking, getting off our chest
what is on it, how critical this is. For 2 hours.
I am collecting materials that I will bring to this floor and bring
to the legislation so that we will put our legislation and make it
better after introducing it.
We are still coming to terms; and I think you would agree with me
with September 11, it is not something that simply fades into the
night.
What was carried out, this assault on thousands of innocent people
who were enjoying the freedom of America, the perpetrators showed us
the absolute depths which humankind can sink. But in this immediate
aftermath, we have all witnessed something else. We have also seen amid
the carnage and amongst the destruction the amazing heights of
benevolence, of decency, courage that America offers. We witnessed
America's first responders.
I commend the gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. Larson) for
understanding that we have been trying to talk sense into the folks who
come here today about that our first responders do not need a wave and
a pat on the back so much, but they need the resources. They need the
training. They need the equipment. They need the apparatus.
When I look at what happened in New York State and New York City, the
numbers of human beings taken, of brave men and women who rushed into
those buildings, 343 firefighters, numerous police officers, members of
the Port Authority Security Team, and then 92 vehicles destroyed worth
close to $50 million. This is nothing that we can simply offer our
condolences about. We have a responsibility, do you not agree?
Mr. LARSON of Connecticut. Let me first of all recognize the
outstanding job that you have done both as an architect of this
specific legislation and your outstanding work both in the last session
and this session in terms of bringing to Congress the importance and
need of firefighting, as you have eloquently pointed out the need for
training, the need for counseling, the need to see that there are
appropriate resources there at the point of delivery.
Clearly, if we have learned anything from September 11, and with all
due respect to our great Federal agencies of the CIA, the FBI, our
armed services, the FAA, those first on the scene, those rushing up the
stairs all came from our local communities. And that was true in
Pennsylvania. It was true at the Pentagon. It was true in New York
City.
I hope the gentleman will stay as we enter into further dialogue, but
I am proud to say that we have been joined by another architect of this
legislation, the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Hill), who also
understands the importance of funding local initiatives and is also a
co-author of this legislation.
Mr. HILL. I thank the gentleman and my good friend, the gentleman
from Connecticut (Mr. Larson), for yielding me a bit of time. I want to
also commend the gentleman for the work that he has put forth on this
particular idea. It is a good idea, and it is an idea that I can
support wholeheartedly.
The September 11 terrorist attack on the United States has made us
more aware of the threats that exist in the world today. It has also
made us more aware of how we can combat these dealers in death. Your
Municipal Preparation and Strategic Response Act of 2001 is a crucial
step toward improving our ability to deal with acts of terrorism. In
rural districts like mine in southern Indiana, the firemen and
policemen and emergency medical teams are often the first line of
defense against disasters. Often funding for these great protectors of
ours is lacking.
September 11 has made it clear that for a new kind of warfare, we
need a new kind of warrior. It will now take more than just our
military and intelligence forces to keep us completely safe. We must
make sure that first responders in our cities and towns have the
training, the equipment, and the personnel to effectively respond to
any disaster. It has got to be a bottom-up approach because the police
officer that patrols your street or the firefighter that is your
neighbor will be the first person in any disaster scene. They are
taking the greatest risk as we saw in New York City and they are
providing the greatest service.
It is our duty to provide for the common defense and general welfare
of the United States. To accomplish that is now our duty to give them
the best tools possible to face that risk and to provide that service.
Your bill provides $1 billion of grant money that will go directly to
local cities and towns to support emergency responders. It will also
provide $250 million to the COPS program and $250 million to the
Firefighters Assistance Program, which has already benefited fire
departments in southern Indiana.
In the past, some may have taken our first responders in our
communities for granted. This bill, our bill, would help ensure that
that never happens again; and I thank the gentleman for yielding to me.
[[Page H6497]]
Mr. LARSON of Connecticut. I thank the gentleman from Indiana (Mr.
Hill), who indeed has been a warrior himself on behalf of local
firefighters, police and law enforcement individuals. I thank the
gentleman who gives me far too much credit. The genesis of this
legislation, indeed, came from those front-line responders. It was
their input. As the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Pascrell) has
pointed out, as the gentleman has eloquently stated, as we go back and
talk to our local municipalities, we hear this repeated all across the
Nation.
Is that what the gentleman has found in his 2-hour meeting?
Mr. PASCRELL. That is exactly what I have found, and I cannot
emphasize it enough. One of the things that came across in our meeting
yesterday morning, in this event for a counter-terrorism response,
training and equipment are very critical. However, this is not going to
make sense on a local level unless mayors and councilmen and
committeemen understand that we are under the severest of alerts.
Mr. LARSON of Connecticut. The gentleman will understand this
firsthand, as he is a former mayor.
Mr. PASCRELL. Yes, I do. Mayors are there 24-7. And mayors and
councilmen and committee people cannot put this aside, cannot put this
as an addendum. This must be a crucial part of every municipality's
operation.
{time} 1830
And there are places to find out this information.
We are going to help. We are going to do our part in a bipartisan way
in the Congress of the United States, but there is not one community
which should shrink from the responsibilities that they have within
themselves. Every one of us, as individuals and as communities, must
develop plans. We are going to help them do that. The emergency teams
and their counties in districts throughout America are going to help
them do that. We are going to provide the resources to do this. This is
something that has not been on the front line, and we are going to put
it on the front line.
I want to commend the gentleman again. Being a mayor, of course, as
the gentleman knows, the mayor is the father, the sociologist, the
parent. You are everything when you are a mayor, be it a small town or
a large town. This is what makes America so great, that small towns and
large towns work together, particularly in times of crisis.
And I can assure the gentleman that there is no greater
responsibility that we have on this floor than to communicate back to
the mayors of the many towns we have in our districts that they better
have a plan, they better be able to deal with their hospitals, with
their firefighters, with their first responders and EMTs and their
police officers. They better be able to deal with the State police in
their areas, and the county police and sheriff departments in their
areas. If they do not have a plan, what happens if communication goes
out? What is the backup? What is the second line of defense?
We understand that many of the things we talk about in biochemical
warfare will mean that first responders, who will be the first on the
scene and not knowing what even they are attacking, are put in real
life jeopardy. We cannot allow that to happen, and we must do this
yesterday. So there is no time.
I want to assure the gentleman he will have my total cooperation, and
I know across the line here we will have the cooperation of all our
colleagues.
Mr. LARSON of Connecticut. I want to thank the gentleman especially
for the outreach he has done in various caucuses but, as has been
acknowledged from the outset, this is a bipartisan effort.
I think the heartening thing that is going on in America as we
respond to this tragedy is the way the country has reacted. It is the
way this body, in truth, which oftentimes is very partisan, but on this
issue, from the night of the attack, when we all stood together,
Democrat, Republican, Senate and House, on those steps out front and
spontaneously broke into God Bless America, from that point forward we
understood how clear this mission was; that it is important for us,
especially at the grass roots level and with local government to make
sure that we are providing resources to our front line defenders.
I especially want to thank the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr.
Weldon) as well, who has been a champion, and who has worked with the
gentleman on many issues that involve firefighters, and for the lead he
has taken and for his willingness to recognize how important it is
going to be for us to get resources back to our local communities.
I also want to indicate to our colleagues who may be listening this
evening and to those out in this great country of ours that are
listening to call in, to implore people to sign onto this legislation.
We are having a press conference tomorrow with a number of associations
and groups and Members who have already signed on to the proposal, but
we are hoping to attract more original sponsors of the bill and hope
that in true bipartisan fashion, in the way that the gentleman has
reached out to so many, that we are able to bring this legislation
forward and hopefully enact it before we leave here so that our first
line responders get that money when they need it, because, as the
gentleman so eloquently pointed out, they need it yesterday. They need
it now.
We were caught off guard. We were stunned. We have gone through,
clearly, a period of mourning that, as the gentleman indicated, I do
not know that we will ever get over. But to honor the memory of those
brave heroes is to make sure that we are prepared for this response;
that part of our resolve towards terrorism is at every single level of
government and then intercoordinated between them.
Again, this is an experience the gentleman knows about better than
most. One of the issues that was raised locally with the individuals
and firefighters, police officers, municipal leaders, mayors and State
legislative representatives in my meeting was that, look, there needs
to be better coordination. Somehow we have to get on to a system of
commonality of communication. Was that part of the gentleman's
experience?
Mr. PASCRELL. Absolutely. If we do not have that coordination or that
education, then we have panic. There is enough fear in this country.
Walt Whitman hit on it 135 years ago. We must rise to the occasion. And
he looked around in this very House and saw, as he was attending to
folks during that Civil War, because he was a nurse, he knew that maybe
a Congressman once in a while had his head down, but when the call
came, he knew that they would respond and respond accordingly. He had
that faith over 135 years ago in this Congress. We have that faith now.
We need to reduce the panic. We need to reduce the fear. And nothing
will do that better than knowledge. Nothing will do that better than
all levels of government and all levels of the community being involved
in this plan. And I just want to leave by thanking the gentleman again
for bringing us together on this issue.
Mr. LARSON. I thank the gentleman again for all his help, and would
only add as well that I think the important lesson for our children
with regard to September 11 is how this Nation responded.
It has been noted by many how several events, including sporting
events and celebrity activities, were canceled. It was a time when our
children really, truly got to appreciate the difference between
celebrities and heroes. The events of September 11, and those brave
heroes and heroines in New York, those that boarded planes, those who
proceeded with the heroic acts in the fields of Pennsylvania and those
at the Pentagon are indeed heroes.
We have become a Nation now that understands the importance of
community and working together and extending a hand to our neighbors
and not painting with the broad brush of prejudice the many because of
the acts of a fanatical few. These are important lessons for our
children to understand. It is important that they understand how our
constitution works and how we must safeguard our liberties and our
freedoms and how we must stand together as a Nation.
As Members of Congress, we must understand that aside from the
rhetoric that we put forward, that we have to provide the resources,
and those resources have never been needed more than they are today for
our local communities. We hear this loud and clear
[[Page H6498]]
from them. There is not a Member of the Congress on either side of the
aisle who does not understand or appreciate the needs of their local
mayor or selectmen, volunteer fire department, law enforcement
officials, or emergency medical help people.
This is something that Congress simply must respond to and act now.
We must embrace the agenda and proposals of the President and of his
new appointee, Tom Ridge, with respect to homeland defense, and then
come together as a body and act soon. Tomorrow is the first step in
that action.
We will be introducing this piece of legislation, and we hope to get
further input from our municipalities so that Congress can join
together to make sure that our municipalities are prepared, so that
strategically, and from the standpoint of having appropriate equipment,
and from the ability of us to respond appropriately, we will be
prepared.
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