[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 148 (2002), Part 9]
[House]
[Page 12793]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




              UNNECESSARY DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY

  (Mr. DUNCAN asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. DUNCAN. Mr. Speaker, I realize that almost everyone in the 
Congress is going to vote to create the new Department of Homeland 
Security, but I am afraid all this new Department is going to do is 
make the government bigger, more bureaucratic and more expensive and 
the country will not be any safer.
  In yesterday's ``Congress Daily,'' we read that the Congressional 
Budget Office has estimated it will cost $43 billion just to implement 
the new Department.
  The New York Times on June 23 had a column which said the proposed 
Department contains ``elements so big that even a fee-hungry Wall 
Street investment banker might have hesitated to propose it.''
  William Schneider, in the ``National Journal,'' said it will ``simply 
add another layer of bureaucracy. Will adding another layer of 
government at the top make a great deal of difference? Not if the 
problem is at the bottom.''
  Tony Blankley, in Wednesdays's Washington Times said, ``Congress 
should slow down, be more deliberative . . . Perhaps some bill can be 
cobbled together at such breakneck speed, but not the bill that this 
country needs.''
  Mr. Speaker, we should not have to create a new cabinet-level 
Department just to get Federal agencies to cooperate with each other.

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