[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 32 (Tuesday, March 14, 2006)]
[Senate]
[Page S2126]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. BIDEN:
  S. 2412. A bill to address homeland security issues relating to first 
responders, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the use of technology, 
Federal, State, and local coordination, and critical infrastructure, 
and for other purposes; to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and 
Transportation.
  Mr. BIDEN. Mr. President, today, I am introducing the 9/11 Commission 
Recommendations Implementation Act of 2006. This legislation will 
provide $41.625 billion over the next 10 years to help ensure that we 
implement the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission.
  Back in July of 2004, the 9/11 Commission--with distinguished 
bipartisan leadership from former Republican Governor Tom Kean and 
former Congressman Lee Hamilton--issued its report with recommendations 
of what the government should do to help better protect the Nation.
  Nearly a year and a half later, they issued a so-called report card 
to tell us how well the government had been doing at implementing their 
recommendations.
  Well, it doesn't look good. That report card was riddled with Cs, Ds, 
Fs, and incompletes.
  Most Americans believe that we've taken the obvious steps to close 
the gaps in our homeland defense. They believe that at the very least, 
we have a plan, that we've set priorities, and that we know what the 
next steps are.
  But, let me quote from the Commission's report card from December on 
what we've done to assess the risks and vulnerabilities of our critical 
infrastructure--transportation, communications, and industrial assets.
  Here's what they say--and I quote--``no risk and vulnerability 
assessments have actually been made. No national priorities are yet 
established. No recommendations have been made on the allocation of 
scarce resources. All key decisions on homeland security are at least a 
year away.''
  We all remember 9/11, when we learned for the first time that local 
police, fire, and rescue units could not communicate with each other 
and could not communicate with Federal agencies. We saw how this 
inability probably resulted in many deaths that could have been 
prevented. Well, we learned during Hurricane Katrina that things are no 
better today. No better today.
  The one place I think most Americans think we've probably done pretty 
well--passenger screening--actually got an ``F.'' The 9/11 commission 
reports stated that, in fact, ``few improvements have been made to the 
existing passenger screening system since right after 9/11.'' With 
respect to checked bag and cargo screening for commercial flights, the 
9/11 Commission gave a score of ``D'', stating that ``improvements have 
not been made a priority by Congress or the Bush Administration.''
  This is unacceptable. This Administration hasn't even filled in the 
very obvious gaps in our homeland defense. We haven't done it. We 
simply haven't done it.
  The bill that I am introducing today will ensure that we address the 
most obvious gaps in our homeland defense. It begins with those areas 
where the Commission graded us and the President as ``F'' and ``D.'' 
And, it addresses those areas that were outside the scope of the report 
but are commonsense things that we should be doing, such as securing 
the rails and providing funding for local law enforcement.
  And it's pretty basic. We have done nothing much to deal with the 
problems most Americans know relate to homeland security. We are safer 
but not nearly safe enough. The bipartisan commission that got great 
grades from everybody in the Nation felt compelled on their own dime, 
their own money, their own resources, not funded by the government, to 
continue to issue reports and to hold hearings. And they issued a 
report on December 5 that is, quite frankly, embarrassing and 
dangerous.
  We can and we have to marshal all our country's resources in this 
struggle. Do you think that the American people would rather us spend 
this money on securing our ports, our chemical plants, our railroads, 
our cities, or give it back as a tax break for the wealthiest 
Americans? Given the choice, the American people said, let's make our 
streets safer. I'm confident they think we should make the country 
safer. This legislation will help take us down that path, and I urge my 
colleagues to support it.
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