[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 10]
[House]
[Page 14077]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1645
                            RAILWAY SECURITY

  Mr. NADLER. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to address the House 
for 5 minutes.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Without objection, the gentleman from New 
York is recognized for 5 minutes.
  There was no objection.
  Mr. NADLER. Mr. Speaker, the Bush administration constantly crows 
about protecting us from terrorists, but when you get down to nuts and 
bolts it is clear that the administration and the Republican leadership 
of this Congress have no idea what they are doing. Just yesterday, 
terrorists killed more than 180 people by attacking the mass transit 
system in Mumbai, India. You had better believe that every one of the 4 
million subway riders in New York took a deep breath before getting on 
the train this morning. New Yorkers know that, when terrorists strike, 
they go after high density, high profile targets. Every time you read 
in the newspapers that a terrorist abroad has been apprehended, you 
find the plans to strike at the United States are of Washington or New 
York, the maps in their possession or on their computers are of New 
York. Evidently this is yet to dawn on the Department of Homeland 
Security. Their ignorance is nothing short of disgusting.
  We need to step up not only the distribution of funds to the right 
places, to the targets in this country, we need to step up rail 
security protections in this country. The Democratic Rail and 
Transportation Security Act proposes to appropriate $400 million a year 
for the next 6 years for a grant program to beef up the rail and public 
transportation security on our mass transit systems in the country as a 
whole, New York and elsewhere, but the administration and the 
Republicans in Congress say no.
  The Democrats propose to spend $150 million over the next 3 years for 
advanced research and development to find more advanced solutions to 
the security threats faced by rail and public transportation systems. 
Again, the Bush administration and the Republicans in this Congress say 
no. We ought to be spending roughly $26 million a year over the next 6 
years to hire 200 new rail security inspectors per year. Is this really 
necessary? You bet. Right now there are only 100 rail security 
inspectors for the whole country.
  We need to increase our intelligence efforts to prevent attacks, 
develop plans to respond to attacks, and ensure the timely restoration 
of our rail infrastructure should an attack occur. The Democrats have 
advanced plans to do this, while the Republican leadership of this 
Congress and this administration waste their time designating insect 
zoos and bean festivals as terror targets as was revealed in the front 
page of the New York Times today from the list of targets on the 
Homeland Security target list.
  Is there no end to their incompetence? First they cut funding for the 
prime target in this country, New York, by 40 percent. Then they 
declare an excuse that New York contains no national landmarks or 
icons, and now we learn they are designating a kangaroo conservation 
center as a key terrorist target. There is no excuse for short-changing 
this country's top targets. As the Inspector General has wisely 
determined, folksy appeal cannot be the chief criterion for the 
allocation of anti-terrorist funding.
  It has been over 1 year since terrorists struck London's mass transit 
system, over 2 years since the rail bombings in Madrid, yet little has 
been done in the United States to protect our rail and mass transit 
systems. This administration, the leadership of this Congress must open 
its eyes to reality and put our resources where they are really needed 
before we have another catastrophe, a preventable catastrophe, on our 
hands. And then it will be little comfort to know that the blame lies 
with the administration and the Republican leadership of this Congress.
  We don't want to be laying blame. We don't want to be saying it is 
their fault. We want to prevent it. So let us learn a little, and let 
us pray that the administration and the Republican leadership of this 
Congress has their heads examined and opened their eyes.

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