[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 20]
[House]
[Page 28298]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




 RECOGNIZING THE SKILL, DEDICATION AND SACRIFICE OF OUR NATION'S FIRST 
                               RESPONDERS

  (Ms. LORETTA SANCHEZ of California asked and was given permission to 
address the House for 1 minute.)
  Ms. LORETTA SANCHEZ of California. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to 
recognize the skill, the dedication and the sacrifice of our Nation's 
first responders. In particular, I would like to honor and thank all of 
the first responders who are on the front line perilously right now 
fighting the fires in Southern California.
  We rely on our first responders to help us survive the most difficult 
and the most challenging experiences that we face. I am proud that when 
we passed H.R. 1 this year, Congress took critical steps to provide 
Federal support for our Nation's first responders. These steps included 
increasing the amounts of funding available to States and localities 
for hazardous preparedness funding, what we are facing in California 
right now, and establishing a stand-alone communications 
interoperability grant program so that our first responders could speak 
to each other as they were on the front line in these emergencies.
  The Federal Government must continue to provide States and localities 
with all the resources that they need to effectively respond to these 
emergencies. Please keep all of our first responders and the residents 
who have been affected by the Southern California fires in your 
thoughts and prayers.

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