[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 105 (Wednesday, September 8, 2004)]
[House]
[Page H6762]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            BUSH ADMINISTRATION UNDERFUNDS HOMELAND SECURITY

  (Ms. BERKLEY asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. BERKLEY. Mr. Speaker, it has been 3 years since the 9/11 attack 
on our Nation. Are we safer than we were before 9/11? Are we safe 
enough? The 9/11 Commission has done its job; now it is time for 
Congress to do ours.
  Homeland security is still pitifully underfunded. Our police and 
firefighters are struggling to cope with the dual responsibilities of 
homeland security and traditional public safety in law enforcement.
  The Bush administration has foolishly underfunded first responders 
and port security. The administration has failed to include a single 
dollar in its budget for rail or transit security.
  First responders in southern Nevada tell me that we must direct more 
resources to those on the frontline on our war against terrorism: 
police, firefighters, hospital personnel. Given the President's plan to 
transport thousands of shipments of deadly radioactive nuclear waste 
across the country, it is imperative that the President plan to protect 
these proposed mobile Chernobyls from the possibility of a terrorist 
attack. Yet we have done nothing to ensure that our rail lines are 
safe.
  Republican leadership has failed to come forward with a meaningful 
homeland security plan. They failed to address the recommendations of 
the 9/11 Commission, and they failed to provide for the needs of our 
first responders.
  This Congress needs to act now in order to protect the people of this 
great Nation.

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