Cong. Millender-McDonald: ...My role in Congress is to make sure that I bring money to the states, of course in CA...so that the state can send money to your cities and your counties to do the work that they must do for you...

Do know that I am concerned [when constituents raise issues that local officials are supposed to handle] and I am not going to stop and not do anything about it. What I do is pick up the phone and call them...and they get right on it, because you know what? They will be coming back to me in Washington for more money. And I tell them when they come to me for money and haven't done what they were supposed to do, I say, you know I'm not going to send it to you just yet. You've got to make sure that you've done what you need to do for the people of the 37th Congressional district of which Long Beach is one of my cities...

...I think Long Beach must become an international, world class city. And we want to make it one. [applause]...

We have also looked at and put $90 million in port security, making sure that your ports are safe...[W]hen I came in after 9-11, I shuddered at the whole thought of just having such open borders that ships coming in...you don't know all the time what is in the containers of those ships...

...And so given that, we had to make sure that we secured the ports...to make sure that we had sea marshals, that we test the manifest before it comes into the borders of the United States, to make sure that we know who is coming in, who's driving that ship, who are the personnel on that ship, what do they have and most importantly, is the containers that are on that ship, that they all emanate from, Europe, or did we pick some from Asia, or did we pick some from the middle east?...I've made sure that we have that.

In addition to that, I've got to make sure that your airports are safe, so we have air marshals on your airlines. Plus, we are fortifying the cockpit so that if there is another attack, they will not get through to the captain...

...We're looking every day to make sure that you are safe here. Your bridges, your refineries, all of those things, we had to make sure that we had protection around those, that we put up barricades where folks could not get in on those streets surrounding your refineries. And we made sure that anyone who came into the refinery had to have badges, we had to know that they were coming beforehand...

[Fields questions from the floor]

...Q: [from Ms. Myown] I want to welcome the drawing of your boundaries to include us in Long Beach. You began by saying that a problem such as lack of law enforcement was not yours but that obtaining the federal funds to solve it was. I appreciate that. We have what I allege is a serious lack, not only in public safety need of law enforcement here, but below what our city has budgeted for law enforcement. And Congress has already done its job and funded several [police hiring] grants...My question is, before we come to you as a city with a new problem for which we seek federal funds, how do you do your due diligence that our municipality is acting in a fiscally prudent manner to need and deserve those funds?

Cong. Millender-McDonald. Thank you so much. I have already called [my aide] to talk with your Chief of Police. [applause] Obviously, the issues surrounding the NAACP as well as I perceive to have inefficient law enforcement on the street, the crime rate. I have already asked to go in and see that. And he's going to have to give me statistics, he's going to have show me just what [interrupted by applause]...As I said to you, while it is not my job, it is my concern. And I will make sure that my concerns are met, and that I get some satisfaction...