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Hillary faults bush { January 25 2003 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/longisland/politics/ny-ussecu253102569jan25,0,4424376.story?coll=ny-lipolitics-printhttp://www.newsday.com/news/local/longisland/politics/ny-ussecu253102569jan25,0,4424376.story?coll=ny-lipolitics-print
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/longisland/politics/ny-ussecu253102569jan25,0,4424376.story
Hillary Faults Bush On Security
Says U.S. just a bit safer after Sept. 11
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
January 25, 2003
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton launched a blistering critique of the Bush administration's domestic anti-terror effort Friday, saying the nation's new homeland security plan is a "myth" and the country is only marginally safer than it was before Sept. 11.
"Our people remain vulnerable, nearly as vulnerable as we were before ... Sept. 11," the New York Democrat told an audience attending a homeland security conference at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in Manhattan.
"Our vigilance has faded at the top, in the corridors of power in Washington, D.C., where the strategy and resources to protect our nation are supposed to originate, where leaders are supposed to lead," Clinton said.
Clinton's challenge to President George W. Bush's domestic security efforts comes four days before he is to deliver the State of the Union address and on the same day that Tom Ridge was sworn in as the first secretary of the Department of Homeland Security.
"We have relied on a myth of homeland security - a myth written in rhetoric, inadequate resources and a new bureaucracy instead of relying on good, old-fashioned American ingenuity, might and muscle," Clinton said.
"The truth is we are not prepared, we are not supporting our first responders, and our approach to securing our nation is haphazard at best," Clinton said. "Somewhere along the line, we lost our edge. We let our guard down."
Ridge responded by saying "it's not a myth" that various federal agencies "get better every day" at sharing information, CNN reported.
Clinton promoted her Provide for the Common Defense Act, which she argues will force the federal government to give much-needed assistance to states and cities to protect citizens from terror threats.
Her legislation calls for spending to develop anti-terror technologies, to create a task force to set minimum security standards, and to add federal security personnel in areas with large populations, including New York City.
She said a survey of 40 New York counties and municipalities found that 70 percent had received no federal homeland security funding, while investing more than $2.6 billion from their budgets to fight off terrorism.
Clinton also tried to tie security concerns to criticism of Bush's $674 billion economic stimulus proposal that would eliminate taxes on dividends.
"Will ending the dividend tax make air travel safer?" Clinton said. "Will it keep a dirty bomb out of New York Harbor? Will ending the dividends save one police officer or firefighter his or her job? In short, will it make America safer, more secure? Of course, the answer is no."
Rep. Peter King (R-Seaford) said Friday that the Bush administration's top priority is homeland security and that Clinton's criticism only exposes the country to more terror.
"I just think it was a cheap shot," King said. "It just invites the enemy to attack again."
Copyright © 2003, Newsday, Inc.
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