[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 15]
[Senate]
[Pages 20885-20886]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



        RESTORING CONFIDENCE IN THE ECONOMY AND HOMELAND DEFENSE

  Mr. REID. Madam President, last week, late in the week, Senator Byrd 
and I held a press conference. The reason we held this press conference 
was to indicate that we believe we need to do something to restore 
confidence in the economy. We also believe that part of restoring 
confidence in the economy is making sure that homeland defense is 
something that is more than just words.
  We are proposing things that cost money. It is great to talk about 
homeland defense, but if there is no money attached to it, it becomes a 
shallow promise to the American people.
  Some of the things that Senator Byrd and I have talked about have to 
do with bio-terrorism. We believe there should be some prevention. 
Madam President, if you are going to have good, high-quality medical 
care, you have to have preventive medical care. The way to reduce costs 
and have a healthier public is to put our resources in the front end, 
not wait until everybody is sick and in the hospital. Bio-terrorism is 
no different. We need to have prevention and response. We need to have 
food safety initiatives. We have so few food inspections now. I believe 
I heard my friend from Iowa say, in a debate in this Senate Chamber 
last week, that about 1 percent of the food in our country is 
inspected. We need to do better. We need to make sure that State and 
local governments, who have responsibilities in this area, have some 
capacity to do that.
  We believe there should be upgrades to State and local health 
departments. We believe we have to take a look at hospitals to make 
sure there is enough hospital capacity.
  We want to accelerate the purchase of vaccines. In America, this huge 
country of 270 million people, we believe we should have an adequate 
number of vaccines that are under the direction of the Centers for 
Disease Control. We need to make sure we have adequate supplies. If we 
do not use them, fine; but we should have them available. And to 
accelerate the purchase of these vaccines is going to cost money.
  Antibiotics: We know we have an inadequate supply of antibiotics. We 
need to make sure there is a satisfactory supply of these antibiotics 
for all the problems that may arise. And that is true for other 
pharmaceutical supplies.
  We need to make sure there is better security for our labs.
  These things I have just enumerated will cost about $3 billion.
  I came to Washington with Tom Ridge. He and I were in the House of 
Representatives together. I have maintained a friendship with him, 
including the time he was Governor of Pennsylvania.
  A year ago, we traveled to Israel and the Middle East together, and 
we spent some time together. I have great respect for him as a person 
and for his abilities. But I truthfully say that I am not sure he is 
going to be able to do what is going to be required of him unless he 
has the resources to do it.
  I had a meeting in with him last week. What he suggested was: Let me 
determine, first, what I need, and then I will come back and tell you 
what I need.
  I am willing to do that. But I am not going to stand in the 
background and deprive him of the resources to do his job.
  We have 40 agencies that collect intelligence. I believe we need a 
person who has authority to tell these entities what to do and what he 
needs from them. So I am willing to wait for a reasonable period of 
time for Governor Ridge to get back to us and tell us what he needs. 
But if this is going to go onto a program where they are going to try 
to do his job and not spend any money, then I am going to move forward 
and give him the tools I believe he needs.
  I am willing to wait for him to tell me what tools he needs, but if I 
get nothing in the reasonable future, then I am going to go ahead and 
do something on my own.
  In New York, we learned to do something that should have been done a 
long time ago; that is, to develop nationwide appreciation for the 
police officers and firefighters.
  In my past, I was a police officer for a period of time here in 
Washington, DC. I have always had great respect for the police. But it 
was not until I went to the State legislature in Nevada that I 
developed the respect for firefighters that I have.
  When I went there, they were trying to pass legislation.
  One of the things they told us, that there were more people who die 
and are injured fighting fires than police officers who die or are hurt 
in the line of duty. Firefighters have all kinds of problems on a daily 
basis. This was exemplified by the tragedy at the World Trade Center 
when hundreds of firefighters died in that terrible attack. We need $6 
billion to make sure the State and local antiterrorism investments are 
there for our police and fire

[[Page 20886]]

departments. We need to have firefighting grants to allow local 
governments to have the capacity to train these people better. So for 
State and local antiterrorism investments for police and fire 
departments and additional firefighting grants, that figure is $1.6 
billion.
  We need to also recognize that the FBI needs more assistance. All 
Federal law enforcement needs help. That includes computer 
modernization, especially for the FBI. They need additional agents. 
They are working long hours and getting worn down since September 11. I 
am not going to state in the Chamber the numbers of people in the Las 
Vegas Customs office. To do so would be embarrassing to me and to our 
country. It is the same all over the country. We are asking the U.S. 
Customs to do all kinds of things legislatively that they don't have 
the staff to do. We need a huge additional amount of money to take care 
of Customs.
  We know that the terrorists who came and did the acts of September 11 
didn't come over the southern border we hear so much about. They came 
through the northern border. We need to make sure there is more funding 
for the Coast Guard, the Federal Aviation Administration, the Drug 
Enforcement Administration, and U.S. Attorneys. Our courts need more 
money, as does the U.S. Marshals Service. What I have talked about 
here, starting with the FBI, is going to cost us about $1.7 billion.
  We know most of the time who comes into this country, but once they 
come here, they are lost in a maze of 270 million people. We need the 
Immigration and Naturalization Service to improve their tracking of 
people who are in this country and people who are on student visas. I 
believe we should do all we can to have exchange programs and have 
people study in our great universities. Out of the approximately 135 
great universities in the world, 121 of them are in the United States. 
It is great we have people who want to come from other countries to 
study here. But we need to make sure that once they come here, they are 
not lost in the maze of people in the United States.
  We need border enhancements, improved tracking of people, including 
people on student visas. This is going to cost about $1.5 billion. We 
know that airport security is going to cost more money, about $1 
billion. Transit security is also important, $1.1 billion. We need to 
make sure there is adequate Federal security protection in Federal 
facilities such as nuclear plants and border facilities, national 
parks, and water projects. That will cost over $1 billion.
  Enhancements for highways: I believe if we are going to have a real 
stimulus package in this country, we are going to have to do something 
with job creation. It is not going to be done all on the tax side. We 
have to create jobs.
  For every billion dollars, for example, we spend on highways, we 
create 42,000 jobs. So much needs to be done with our highways. This 
would be an immediate pick-up, an immediate stimulus to our economy all 
over America, whether it is New York or Nevada or any of the other 48 
States. There are projects that have been designed, and the only thing 
holding up the projects from going forward is money. We would create 
hundreds of thousands of jobs if we decided to spend $4 billion on 
these projects.
  We could easily spend $2.5 billion for enhancement of highways. We 
could allocate $2.1 billion for clean and safe drinking water projects. 
Indian Health Service clinics and other initiatives need to be taken 
care of.
  There needs to be a direct, strong movement to restore confidence in 
our economy. One way we can do that is to create jobs. The other way, 
and they go together, is to restore confidence in our homeland defense.
  I have discussed with Senator Abraham, Governor Ridge, the head of 
the FBI, and the head of the CIA the need to have a place for training 
people who are part of our counter-terrorism task force. I am very 
provincial in this. I understand that. But the Nevada test site, where 
we set off 1,000 nuclear devices over the years, is a place as large as 
Rhode Island. It has mountains, valleys, deserts, dry lakes. It has a 
facility already there for testing chemical spills. It has huge 
dormitories and restaurants. It is a place that is waiting for some 
activity.
  In addition to that, if we want to test hardened silos that Saddam 
Hussein and people in Afghanistan have dug and built, we can use a 
network of tunnels that have been built there for nuclear testing over 
the years that are miles long. So as part of restoring confidence in 
the economy, we should have this national terrorism center.
  I only hope that we all understand that it is extremely important we 
not walk out of here with a stimulus package that is driven solely by 
tax cuts. I acknowledge that there are certain things we can do that 
are important on the tax side. There are other things we need to do. We 
need to look at those people who have been displaced in the September 
11 aftermath.
  Senator Carnahan offered an amendment on the airline security bill. 
It was a good amendment that failed on a party-line vote. That is too 
bad. We need to make sure before we leave here that the Carnahan 
amendment passes. We must do that.
  We also must recognize that people who have been displaced not only 
have problems of unemployment, but they have no health insurance. We 
have to do something to extend COBRA or somehow to take care of COBRA.
  While we talk about these extended unemployment benefits, we have to 
understand that unemployment compensation is a bridge to nowhere unless 
there is a job on the other end of it. We have to make sure we do 
something about that.
  I spoke last evening to Senator Nelson of Florida. I have spoken to 
the two Senators from New York and other States who have an interest in 
tourism. That includes at least 30 States that have tourism as the No. 
1, 2, or 3 most important economic forces in their States. We have to 
boost tourism.
  There has been general agreement that we should look at a program to 
give a tax credit to people who travel--short-term, of course. We need 
to take a look and see if we need to restore the deductibility for 
business meals to stimulate the economy in that regard.
  Senator Dorgan and I introduced legislation last week that would look 
at the ancillary businesses inside the airline business, such as rental 
car companies and travel agencies. These people also need a shot in the 
arm.
  If we walk out of here this year and don't take into consideration 
the fact that we need to restore confidence in the economy by creating 
jobs and making sure people feel good about our homeland defense 
issues, we will have made a big mistake.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. REID. Madam 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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