[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 8]
[House]
[Page 10248]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        TURNING HIS BACK ON OHIO

  Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, I rise to claim the gentlewoman's time and 
address the House for 5 minutes.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Without objection, the gentlewoman from Ohio 
is recognized for 5 minutes.
  There was no objection.
  Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, the people of Ohio are wondering why the 
Bush administration has turned its back on them. After all, Ohio was 
the linchpin State in the Bush victory in 2004.
  Now, what else can Ohioans think? The Bush administration has just 
cut the funding for homeland security in Ohio and its major cities by 
one-third. Over $8.5 million was cut. Last year, Cleveland, Columbus, 
Cincinnati, Toledo, the four largest Ohio cities received $26.1 million 
in antiterrorism funding; this year $17.6 million, an $8.5 million 
reduction. Why?
  Surely President Bush does not think the terrorist threat has 
diminished. If he does, perhaps he should read the newspapers. Dateline 
Toronto, the Canadian Government just broke up an alleged terrorist 
ring in Ontario Province. That is on the north side of Lake Erie, and 
Ohio shares a border across that lake with Canada. And that ring 
apparently possessed enough material, 3 tons of it, to cause an 
explosion three times larger than that which destroyed the Murrah 
Federal Building in Oklahoma City in 1995.
  If that is not enough to think about, Mogadishu, Somalia, has just 
fallen into the hands of Muslim militia groups in what the New York 
Times calls ``a setback for U.S. policy.'' Now that failed state might 
become another stronghold for al Qaeda. That is not good news.
  How about Baghdad? The violence in Iraq continues to escalate. And in 
Kabul the situation in Afghanistan continues to deteriorate. And here 
in Washington the Bush administration responds by making deeper cuts to 
homeland security funding to the four largest cities in Ohio.
  What did Ohio do that would cause President Bush to turn his back on 
her? Funding in Columbus, the largest city in the State, will fall from 
$7.6 million last year to $4.3 million this year. Mayor Coleman said 
that Columbus is the 15th largest city in the country, ``and time and 
again we are being told to do it yourself. Best of luck.''
  My own hometown of Toledo is being cut from $5.3 million to $3.85 
million this year. I think the President spent almost that much just on 
ads during the last campaign in our region. Yet recently in our city, 
the U.S. Justice Department made national news with the arrests of 
three men whom it suspects of being potential terrorists. Indeed, 
Ontario's terrorists drove from Columbus through Toledo, up to Detroit, 
across the bridge to Windsor to their Ontario hideouts.

                              {time}  1930

  Toledo is a major port on the Great Lakes, literally the crossroads 
of America.
  Our position as a premier international transportation center, with 
such great proximity to our Nation's population center, is key to our 
economic vitality. We have to make sure that our air, water, rail, port 
and surface transportation infrastructure is safe and secure, and we 
need the Federal Government's help to do exactly that.
  At this very moment, this crucial moment in our Nation's history, 
this President is turning his back on Ohio, the State that delivered 
for him, turning his back on Toledo and Columbus and Cincinnati and 
Cleveland. He is turning his back on virtually every city across our 
country, cutting homeland security funds by over one-third when our 
communications systems cannot even work interoperably.
  No, Mr. President, mission not accomplished. There's still a lot to 
do. National security is the responsibility of the Federal Government. 
National security is the job of the Federal Government. Let the record 
show, Mr. Speaker, that the Bush administration has turned its back on 
the safety of Ohioans and across this country on the safety of 
Americans, including especially on our Nation's fourth seacoast.
  I hope the Bush administration listens to this message this evening. 
We need help with homeland security in Ohio, in our major cities and 
across this Nation.

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