[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 109 (Friday, June 30, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S9479-S9480]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                          FREEDOM OR SECURITY?

  Mr. GRAMS. Mr. President, this coming Tuesday, the American people 
will celebrate the Fourth of July. It is a day for parties and parades, 
fireworks, and family picnics.
  It is a day for remembering the bedrock of freedom on which this 
country was built, and how freedom still binds us together.
  So it is ironic that 1 day later, July 5, we will take action right 
here on Capitol Hill to clamp down on the very freedoms we embrace on 
Independence Day.
  It began on April 19, in Oklahoma City.
  The reverberations of the bombing at the Alfred P. Murrah Federal 
Building were felt across America, but echoed loudly in Washington, DC, 
home to more Federal buildings--and Federal employees--than any other 
city in the Nation.
  And almost immediately, a siege mentality took hold.
  Here at the Capitol, police took extraordinary steps to protect 
against the possibility of a terrorist attack.
  They beefed up patrols around the building, stopped cars and checked 
trunks, eliminated parking in some areas, increased the sensitivity on 
the entryway metal detectors, and kept the public away from ground 
floor windows with yards of yellow tape labeled ``Police Line--Do Not 
Cross.''
  Soon after, the U.S. Treasury Department ordered Pennsylvania Avenue 
closed to cars and trucks in front of the White House.
  For the first time in the 195-year history of the Executive Mansion, 
the people were no longer allowed to drive past the people's house.
  And now, 1 month after Pennsylvania Avenue was shut down to traffic, 
police say more drastic measures are needed. A plan will go into effect 
here on Wednesday, July 5, that will even further limit the people's 
access to Capitol Hill and those of us who work here on the people's 
behalf.
  The Senate Sergeant-at-Arms and the U.S. Capitol Police say that 
traffic will be restricted or eliminated altogether around the three 
Senate office buildings.
  Some parking will be eliminated, too.
  Streets will be closed with the concrete barriers that have become 
all-too-common in this city. It will be more tire shredders, not 
``welcome'' signs, that will greet visitors.
  The Capitol Police say they are trying to strike a balance between 
free access, and the security of the Congress and its visitors.
  They say the changes I have outlined mean only ``minor traffic 
disruptions'' and will have ``little impact on the community.''
  Mr. President, I have great admiration and respect for the officers 
and police administrators who work every day--sometimes putting their 
own lives on the line--to make this a safe and secure place to work and 
visit.
  They have and deserve our thanks. But with all due respect to them, 
there is much more at stake in this decision 

[[Page S9480]]
than simply its physical impact on the community.
  Whenever we make such bold moves to further separate ourselves from 
the very people who sent us here and pay our weekly salaries, it has a 
tremendous impact on the national psyche as well.
  What it comes down to, Mr. President, is the question of freedom 
versus security. Is ours a government that can operate openly, in the 
name of freedom, and still shut itself off from the people, in the name 
of security?
  Are we willing to swap one for the other?
  If we are, then perhaps we should not stop with a few tire shredders 
and a couple of closed streets.
  Why do not we just build a fence around the Capitol? That is what the 
Capitol Hill Police proposed in 1985 in an internal report, at a cost 
then of $2.8 million.
  Or better yet, if we really want to make a loud, public statement 
that ``you cannot mess with the Federal Government,'' we will dig a 
massive trench around the Capitol.
  We will fill the moat with water and maybe a pack of alligators, and 
build a single, drawbridge entrance, where we will station guards armed 
with spears.
  And then we will dare the public to visit.
  We will be secure in our bunker, Mr. President, but for that 
security, we will be trading away freedom, and we cannot make horse 
trades with the very principles upon which this Nation was founded.
  Mr. President, we should also consider the impact of our actions on 
the taxpayers.
  The recent security precautions taken at the White House will cost 
the taxpayers $200,000 for new traffic signals, signs, and pavement 
markings.
  The new security arrangements here at the Capitol will come with a 
price tag to the taxpayers as well, although the costs will not be 
measured solely by dollars.
  Where do we stop?
  There are 8,100 Federal buildings in the United States--do we turn 
each and every one of them into a fortress?
  The sad truth is that we can not protect Federal workers by sealing 
them off from the world.
  If we tell terrorists that we are not going to let them park car 
bombs made of fertilizer and fuel oil next to our Federal buildings 
anymore, they will find another way.
  And we may just be goading on a desperate kook who wants to prove 
they can not be stopped by another layer of security.
  The public does not understand what we are doing.
  They have vital business in Federal buildings, or they come here as 
tourists, expecting to be welcomed.
  But when they see the police, and all they yellow tape, and the signs 
that say ``Do Not Enter,'' they wonder what kind of message we are 
trying to get across.
  I have heard their comments when they look down an empty stretch of 
Pennsylvania Avenue that used to be open to cars. I know what they 
whisper when they visit and walk through the metal detectors.
  ``It is a shame,'' they are saying.
  And they do not like it. We have gone too far.
  Washington should be a place where visitors feel secure, but by 
turning it into a fortress, we are sacrificing freedom for security, 
and making a city of such beauty and such history something dirty.
  We can put in more concrete barriers and try to camouflage them with 
flowers, but in the words of one newspaper columnist, it is like 
putting lipstick on a goat. It is ugly, and fear is ugly.
  Democracy should be about building bridges, not building walls. In 
Washington, we have become too adept at building walls. And every time 
a wall goes up, we knock freedom down another notch.
  Let us seriously consider what we're doing, and what security we're 
willing to give up in order to live in a democracy.
  If in the end it comes down to a question of security or freedom, 
this Senator will always choose freedom, Mr. President. And I believe 
the American people will, too.
  I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  Mr. GORTON. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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