# Presentation: 702676

## Homeland Security

## Two Years After September 11

- Only enough radios for _half_ the firefighters who need them
- Just _3 percent_ of incoming cargo inspected at our ports
- Patchwork system for keeping track of people entering the U.S.
- _15 percent_ fewer police officers in some cities
- More than 3,000 chemical facilities where a toxic release could threaten more than 10,000 people

## Democrats Have a Plan to Make America Safer: Closing the Security Gap

- Create unified terrorist watch list
- Add an additional 3,100 border patrol agents and inspectors to stop terrorists from entering America
- Increase funding for port security and the Coast Guard
- Equip police, firefighters, and emergency personnel
- Share information among local law enforcement agencies, the FBI, and other federal agencies
- Maintain respect for privacy and due process

## America Can’t Wait

- Republicans have failed to provide any new resources for homeland security this year, cutting funding by about $350 million below last year’s level, when inflation is factored in
- They have refused to provide new funds to add patrol agents to the northern border
- They provided only 25 percent of the funds needed to secure our ports
- Our police, firefighters, and emergency medical personnel are still waiting for the resources they need to keep us safe

## Republicans Adopt “Standstill” Funding for Homeland Security

**$ in billions**

**$28.9 billion**

**$29.2 billion**

## Iraq Spending vs. Homeland Priorities

**Spending in billions**

**$87 billion**

**$29.2 billion**

**$53.1 billion**

## First Responders: Fire Departments are Ill-Equipped

- Don’t have enough radios (50%)

- Don’t have personnel and equipment to respond to building collapse (90%)

- Don’t have enough breathing equipment (67%)

## Too Little Cargo Inspected

**97 percent NOT inspected**

**3 percent inspected**

## What the Experts are Saying

- 	“[T]he United States remains dangerously ill-prepared to handle a catastrophic attack on American soil...If the nation does not take immediate steps to better identify and address the urgent needs of emergency responders, the next terrorist incident could have an even more devastating impact than the September 11 attacks.”
- 	 *-- Report of an Independent Task Force Sponsored by the Council on Foreign Relations, “Emergency Responders: Drastically Underfunded, Dangerously Unprepared,” June 2003*

## What the Experts are Saying

- 	The Department of Homeland Security "does not appear to have taken the necessary steps to build the communications and sharing network required to deal with the threat, or to begin producing regular, actionable intelligence products for other agencies. Indeed, the DHS has yet to articulate a vision of how it will link federal, state, and local agencies in a communications and sharing network..."
*	**--The Markle Foundation: The Task Force on National Security in the Information Age. "Creating a Trusted Network for Homeland Security." December 2, 2003*

## What the Experts are Saying

- 	“There is no reason why the nation’s first responders should not have funding from the legislation passed by Congress and signed by the President over six months ago. Instead, almost 90 percent of them have been left empty-handed and are using band-aid funding approaches to provide the security that the American people deserve and have every right to expect.”
- 	*--Elizabeth, NJ Mayor J. Christian Bollwage, Press Conference on U.S Conference of Mayors “First Mayors’ Report to the Nation: Tracking Homeland Security Funds Sent to the 50 State Governments.” September 17, 2003**	*