[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 6]
[House]
[Page 8438]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           AMERICANS AT RISK

  (Mr. CLARKE of Michigan asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. CLARKE of Michigan. Mr. Speaker, Americans are at risk. They are 
at risk of having their homes and their businesses demolished, of being 
injured and even killed, either by a natural disaster such as the 
tornados that have hit us recently or through a terrorist attack that 
will more likely come from within the United States.
  This is not the time to cut the Homeland Security budget, and that's 
why today I propose taking military aid to Afghanistan and redirecting 
it to better equip and to hire more firefighters, more police officers, 
more emergency medical providers. State and local governments don't 
have the money to provide these resources because our home values have 
plummeted due to the foreclosure crisis, which this Congress has failed 
to address effectively.
  There is one responsibility, though, that this Congress must honor, 
our duty to protect the American people. We, who live in this country, 
deserve to be safe.
  Restore the cuts to the Homeland Security budget, and redirect the 
money from Afghanistan to protect Americans.

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