FY2010 Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act.” During debate on the House Floor, Rep. Yvette D. Clarke urged her colleagues to support the King/Clarke Amendment to the Appropriations Act,H.AMDT.248. The King/Clarke Amendment passed the House by a vote of 282-148.
This bipartisan amendment will add $50 million in funding to the Domestic Nuclear Detection Office. Overall $40 million is intended for the Securing the Cities initiative (STC) and $10 million is intended for procurement of radiation portal monitors. This funding would equal the FY2008 appropriation for the program. The STC program is the only federal initiative designed specifically to protect a U.S. city from a radiological or nuclear terrorist attack, which President Obama has called, “the most immediate and extreme threat to global security.”
H.R. 2892 also includes Rep. Clarke’s request for $3 Million in funding for the Multi-State Information Sharing & Analysis Center Program (MS-ISAC). Created by New York State’s Cyber Security Office in 2003, MS-ISAC works to improve the cyber posture of state and local governments. This funding will provide direct network traffic monitoring and intrusion detection and prevention for four states, as well as cyber threat and vulnerability analysis, incident response support, and outreach and education for all states and local governments.
Congresswoman Clarke made the following statement regarding the passage of the bill:
“Since coming to Congress in 2007, I have worked with my colleagues in the Homeland Security Committee to protect our nation against dirty bomb threats. In fact, my bill the Radiological Materials Security Act (H.R. 2070) would help secure domestic sources of radiological materials that could be used to make a radiological dispersion device (a “dirty bomb”) against access by terrorists.
“Securing the Cities is a vital initiative developed to protect New York City and the tri-state area from the threat of an improvised nuclear device or a radiological dispersal device. The program establishes a ring around New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut of state-of-the-art mobile radiation-detection equipment on highways, toll plazas, bridges, tunnels, and waterways. This critical investment will ensure that law enforcement and emergency response agencies have the resources needed to protect our nation’s largest city and the tri-state region from the most damaging terrorist threat imaginable.
“I am proud to do my part to ensure that New York City and the Tri-State region receive the homeland security funding needed to prevent the threat of cyber and dirty bomb attacks.”
The Senate will pass its own version of the Homeland Security Appropriations bill and the two bills must be combined in a House-Senate conference before going to the President for his signature.
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Congresswoman Clarke represents one of the most diverse districts in New York City. She was recently appointed to the Chairwoman of the Homeland Security Subcommittee on Emerging Threats, Cybersecurity and Science and Technology for the 111th Congress. Rep Clarke is also Senior Whip of the House Democratic Caucus and Whip of the Congressional Black Caucus. This is her second term in Congress.
