Tuesday, September 14

Patty Murray: Supporting Port Security

According to Roll Call as reported in the Seattle P-I, the Senate voted last Thursday against increasing the funding for port security. HR 4567 lost 45-49. $450 million doesn't seem like a lot of money to spend compared with the damage that one attack on a major U.S. port could do, and according to Senator Murray, the program received $1 billion in grant requests last year. Murray's office cited another figure as well:

The Commandant of the Coast Guard has testified that it will take more than $7 billion, including $1.5 billion this year, to implement the port security plans which were mandated by the Maritime Transportation Security Act.



The same day, Roll Call reports that another amendment to that same bill would have shifted $70 million from consultants to first responders. The money would have upgraded emergency services communication gear so that the different services could all talk to each other during a crisis.

Both of our Washington Senators voted to increase funding for port security and first responders, but they were overruled by the Republican majority.

Senator Murray is a strong voice in the Senate for keeping us safe here at home. She supports using our money effectively in the war on terror, and protecting our state's vital economic interests. So, make sure and send her back to the Senate this year, she's doing a fine job.

1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Senator Murray IS doing a great job, and I am definately planning to support her. And so is the DSCC, evidently; it looks like they are taking Patty's race seriously – they put together a website about George Nethercutt that launched today. If you did’t know, Nethercutt is the congressman from Spokane who beat Tom Foley in 1994 by running on term limits, then changed his mind in 2000 and decided to stay put. Guess he likes the lobbyist money!

Anyway, their site is at www.nethernetherland.com. Patty Murray’s site is www.pattymurray.com. She’s been targeted as the second most important pickup by the Republicans, so they’re dumping money into Nethercutt’s campaign, and sending Bush out there to help him out. The Nethercutt site is pretty funny, though! :)

3:43 PM  

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