Politics & Power Quote by Shelley Berkley

Berkley’s line is less a budget critique than a strategic reframing of patriotism: she casts “political correctness” as a luxury we can’t afford when the stakes are sirens, subways, and skyscrapers. The phrase “give everybody a piece” paints federal security funding as a pie sliced by etiquette rather than threat assessment, implying that grants are being spread thin to satisfy every district’s sense of inclusion. It’s a vivid, slightly scolding image, and it positions the speaker as the adult in the room insisting on triage.

The subtext is geographic and political. Post-9/11 homeland security dollars became a tug-of-war between dense urban targets and smaller states and rural regions that wanted their share. Berkley, a Nevada congresswoman with obvious interest in protecting major population centers and tourist infrastructure, is arguing for risk-based allocation without sounding like she’s merely lobbying for her own. “Our cities” functions as a proxy for “high-value targets,” while also signaling allegiance to mayors, first responders, and the everyday anxieties of urban life.

What makes the quote work is its moral leverage: “wasting” isn’t just inefficiency, it’s negligence dressed up as fairness. By pairing “politically correct” with “homeland security money,” Berkley taps a familiar culture-war button to win a technocratic argument. The implication is blunt: equal distribution may feel democratic, but in security policy it can become performative, even dangerous.