[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 13]
[Senate]
[Pages 17593-17594]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




        DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2005

  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Under the previous order, the 
Senate will proceed to the consideration of H.R. 4567, which the clerk 
will report.
  The journal clerk read as follows:

       A bill (H.R. 4567) making appropriations for the Department 
     of Homeland Security for the fiscal year ending September 30, 
     2005, and for other purposes.

  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Mississippi.
  Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the 
following Appropriations Committee staff members and detailees be 
granted the privilege of the floor during the consideration of the 
fiscal year 2005 Homeland Security appropriations bill and any votes 
that may occur in relation thereto: Less Spivey, Carol Cribbs, Kimberly 
Nelson, James Hayes, Avery Forbes, Brian Glackin, Chip Walgren, Scott 
Nance, Alexa Sewell, Peter Edge, and Sean MacKenzie.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Ms. Murkowski). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.
  Mr. COCHRAN. Madam President, we are now on the Homeland Security 
appropriations bill for the next fiscal year, 2005.
  For the information of Senators, this morning the President signed 
the supplemental appropriations bill the Senate passed last night. The 
President had requested a supplemental for the Disaster Relief Fund of 
the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Because of the pressure on 
that fund, the Agency would have run out of money this morning if the 
Congress had not acted in response to the President's request on 
yesterday.
  The House acted and the Senate approved the supplemental 
appropriations bill for the Department. So I am happy to make that 
report to the Senate. There was some discussion of that issue last 
night, and I appreciate the cooperation and the support of the Senate 
in taking the action we did.
  We are now prepared to consider the full year appropriations bill for 
the Department of Homeland Security.
  We have some opening statements we will make. Senator Byrd is the 
senior Democratic member of this subcommittee, as well as the full 
committee of the Appropriations Committee. He has a statement he wishes 
to make.
  After opening statements are made, we will be happy to consider any 
amendments Senators wish to offer. We hope to be able to complete 
action on

[[Page 17594]]

this bill as soon as reasonably possible. By the end of the week would 
be great, if we could accomplish that. But if not, I think we will have 
the support of the leader and the chairman of the full committee to 
continue to work on this bill until we do finish it.
  It is a matter of great importance that these agencies and this 
Department know what the funding levels are going to be for the fiscal 
year that begins very soon, October 1. We certainly need to take action 
in a timely way for orderly planning for the use of those funds that 
are appropriated by the Congress for this important work.
  Protecting our homeland is a very important--there is no more 
important action by the Federal Government, in my opinion. So I hope we 
can consider this bill with a sense of serious deliberation and work 
hard to complete action in a timely fashion.
  I appreciate very much the cooperation of Senators who are letting us 
know about suggestions they have for changes in our bill as reported by 
the Appropriations Committee. We will consider them, and we will accept 
those that we can accept. We hope we will be able to have the full 
cooperation of all Senators in that respect.

                          ____________________