[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 147 (Thursday, November 14, 2002)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2041]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     HOMELAND SECURITY ACT OF 2002

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                             HON. RON PAUL

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, November 13, 2002

  Mr. PAUL. Mr. Speaker, when the process of creating a Department of 
Homeland Security commenced, Congress was led to believe that the 
legislation would be a simple reorganization aimed at increasing 
efficiency, not an attempt to expand federal power. Fiscally 
conservative members of Congress were even told that the bill would be 
budget neutral! Yet, when the House of Representatives initially 
considered creating a Department of Homeland Security, the legislative 
vehicle almost overnight grew from 32 pages to 282 pages and the cost 
had ballooned to at least $3 billion. Now we are prepared to vote on a 
nearly 500-page bill that increases federal expenditures and raises 
troubling civil liberties questions. Adding insult to injury, this bill 
was put together late last night and introduced this morning. The text 
of the bill has not been made available and the only place members and 
their staff can access a copy of the bill is on the Rules Committee's 
website. Unfortunately, the location of the bill is not widely 
published: thus, many members and staffers are unaware of how to access 
a copy.
  The last time Congress attempted to similarly ambitious 
reorganization of the government was with the creation of the 
Department of Defense in 1947. However, the process by which we are 
creating this new department bears little resemblance to the process by 
which the Defense Department was created. Congress began hearings on 
the proposed Department of Defense in 1945--two years before President 
Truman signed legislation creating the new Department into law! Despite 
the lengthy deliberative process through which Congress created the new 
department, turf battles and logistical problems continued to bedevil 
the military establishment, requiring several corrective pieces of 
legislation. In fact, Mr. Speaker, the Goldwater-Nicholas Department of 
Defense Reorganization Act of 1986 (P.L. 99-433) was passed to deal 
with problems steaming from the 1947 law! The experience with the 
Department of Defense certainly suggests the importance of a more 
deliberative process in the creation of this new agency.
  H.R. 5710 grants major new powers to the Department of Health and 
Human Services (HHS) by granting HHS the authority to ``administer'' 
the smallpox vaccine to members of the public if the Department 
unilaterally determines that there is a public health threat posed by 
smallpox. HHS would not even have to demonstrate an actual threat of a 
smallpox attack, merely the ``potential'' of an attack. Thus, this bill 
grants federal agents the authority to force millions of Americans to 
be injected with a potentially lethal vaccine based on nothing more 
than a theoretical potential smallpox incident. Furthermore, this 
provision continues to restrict access to the smallpox vaccine from 
those who have made a voluntary choice to accept the risk of the 
vaccine in order to protect themselves from smallpox. It is hard to 
think of a more blantant violation of liberty than allowing government 
officials to force people to receive potentially dangerous vaccines 
based on hypothetical risks.
  While this provision appears to be based on similar provisions 
granting broad mandatory vaccination and quarantine power to governors 
from the controversial ``Model Health Emergency Power Act,'' this 
provision has not been considered by the House. Instead, this provision 
seems to have been snuck into the bill at the last minute. At the very 
least, Mr. Speaker, before Congress grants HHS such sweeping powers, we 
should have an open debate instead of burying the authorization in a 
couple of paragraphs tucked away in a 484 page bill!
  H.R. 5710 also expands the federal police state by allowing the 
attorney general to authorize federal agency inspectors general and 
their agents to carry firearms and make warrantless arrests. One of the 
most disturbing trends in recent years is the increase in the number of 
federal officials authorized to carry guns. This is especially 
disturbing when combined with the increasing trend toward restricting 
the ability of average Americans to exercise their second amendment 
rights. Arming the government while disarming the public encourages 
abuses of power.
  Mr. Speaker, H.R. 5710 gives the federal government new powers and 
increases federal expenditures, completely contradicting what members 
were told would be in the bill. Furthermore, these new power grabs are 
being rushed through Congress without giving members the ability to 
debate, or even properly study, this proposal. I must oppose this bill 
and urge my colleagues to do the same.

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