Thursday, September 09, 2004

Renzi Harmed Arizona's Homeland Security Funding

Renzi backed Bush's 2005 budget, which hurt AZ District 1 homeland security funding, in direct contradiction to his claims to have successfully represented the interests of District 1 voters on this critical issue.

Renzi’s Vote Cut Funding to Local Firefighters by One Third.
The 2005 budget cut FIRE Act grants to firefighters by nearly by one third, from $746 million to $500 million.  According to the International Association of Firefighters, “The FIRE Act grant program has received $5 billion worth of requests,” and “has awarded grants totaling just 10% of that need.” [Department of Homeland Security, 2005 Budget in Brief, www.dhs.gov; www.iaff.org]

Renzi’s Vote Cut Funding to State and Local Homeland Security Granting Office by $800 Million Total. 
The 2005 budget cut funding to the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Domestic Preparedness, which supplies a variety of first-responder grants to state and local governments, by $800 million, from $4.4 billion in 2004 to $3.6 billion in 2005.  [Department of Homeland Security, 2005 Budget in Brief, www.dhs.gov; Congressional Quarterly (Subscription req.), www.cq.com]

Renzi’s Vote Cut State and Local First Responder Training by Nearly Half.
The 2005 budget cut state and local grant funding for first responder training, exercise, and technical assistance by nearly half, from $320 million in 2004 to $178 million in 2005.  [Budget of the United States, www.omb.gov]

Even Republicans Criticized the Giant Cuts in Local Funding. 
The chair of the Senate Government Affairs Committee, GOP Sen. Susan Collins, criticized the 2005 Homeland Security Department budget, stating, the “budget includes a considerable cut in the basic state homeland security grant program.   In addition, our states, communities and first responders need a streamlined grant process that includes greater flexibility in how they can use federal resources.” Despite this warning, Renzi chose to follow the Adminstration's line to the detriment of his constituents. [Congressional Quarterly, 2/9/04]

A politician's words are often little more than self-serving justifications, but his votes demonstrate real priorities. Renzi's first priority was protecting crippling tax cuts for the weathy at the expense of the safety and preparedness of all of Arizona's citizens.

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home




Feeds:
RSS/Atom Feed Site Meter
Powered by Blogger