[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 16]
[House]
[Page 21468]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   BAD CHOICES MAKE AMERICA LESS SAFE

  (Mr. TURNER of Texas asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute.)
  Mr. TURNER of Texas. Mr. Speaker, as we begin the debate on the 9/11 
Commission recommendations today, we must ask the central question: are 
we as safe as we need to be. The answer is no, and it is all about the 
choices that we have made.
  In the 2 years before 9/11, we secured more loose nuclear material 
than we did in the 2 years after 9/11. We have yet to install the 
radiation portals we need at our ports to detect nuclear material. We 
still do not have a unified terrorist watch list. Mr. Speaker, 120,000 
hours of untranslated terrorist-related wiretaps remain untranslated at 
the FBI. Mr. Speaker, 20,000 illegal immigrants from places other than 
Mexico were released into our own country last year because of a lack 
of detention space.
  In 2004, we invested about $20 billion more in homeland security than 
we did in the year of 9/11, but we granted 4 times that in tax relief 
to the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans.
  It is all about choices, and we have made the wrong choices because 
our leadership has not committed us to making America as safe as we 
need to be.

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