Washington - Following the Senates vote on his amendment to make Homeland Security grants risk-based, U.S. Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) released a statement.

It is a bipartisan disgrace that the politics of pork and parochialism triumphed over protecting the American people. How many embarrassing reports will it take for the Senate to get serious about protecting our homeland? When will the U.S. Senate stop treating the Department of Homeland Security like an ATM machine? It will be a sad day in America, it will be a sad day on the floor of the United States Senate, when our nation is attacked and members of the Senate must explain why they defended protecting popcorn factories, petting zoos and ice cream parlors.

The matter of risk-based homeland security grants is not about small state versus large state, rural versus urban, or suburban versus metropolitan. It is about risk. And I share the belief of many New Jerseyans as well as the Chairman and Vice Chair of the 9/11 Commission that those who face the greatest risk should be provided the greatest amount of resources to address that risk. And while our amendment did not pass, I am proud that our measure for risk-based homeland security grants received more votes than similar legislation offered just last year.

The fight for risk-based funding is not over. Its not over because the threat still looms. So long as terrorists plot against New Jersey and New York landmarks and states like New Jersey and New York continue to face a disproportionate risk of attack we will fight for risk-based funding. I will introduce this measure year after year, if necessary, until the Senate stops fiddling and gets on with the business of protecting the American people.

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