[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 10]
[Senate]
[Page 14105]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    HOMELAND SECURITY APPROPRIATIONS

  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, yesterday a series of eight explosions 
struck the heart of Mumbai, India, during the evening rush-hour 
commute. At least 180 innocent civilians were killed and more than 700 
were injured in the blast.
  On behalf of this Senate and the American people, I express my 
heartfelt condolences to the victims, to their families, and to the 
Indian people. We share in your grief and in your determination to hunt 
down the criminals who carried out this despicable act. We will stand 
shoulder-to-shoulder with the Indian people and the Indian Government 
in order to bring the perpetrators of these attacks to justice.
  Yesterday's bombings came less than a week after the 1-year 
anniversary of the London bombing attacks and less than a month after a 
thwarted terrorist plot against the New York City subway system was 
revealed. These cowardly acts remind us again and again of our 
responsibility to protect and secure the American homeland.
  As we learned on 9/11, terrorists need to get it right just once. 
They exploit whatever weaknesses they can find, deliberately targeting 
hard-working men and women on their way to work or back from work, 
schoolchildren on the way to their daily school activities, vacationers 
on the way to the beach. In the face of such threats, we must be ever 
vigilant. Our pursuit must be determined. It must be tireless--breaking 
up terrorist cells, destroying their financing, chasing down the money 
trail, and bringing each and every collaborator to justice. We have to 
strengthen our weaknesses and we have to root out whatever 
vulnerabilities we have.
  That is why the bill that is on the floor today, the Homeland 
Security bill, is so important. The Homeland Security spending bill 
provides over $32 billion to strengthen our ports, America's ports, our 
borders, our transit systems. It provides financial support for 100 new 
rail inspectors and canine teams, enhancing our Nation's railway 
security and ensuring that bombings such as those that happened in 
Mumbai and London aren't repeated here.
  It adds 1,000 more Border Patrol agents, investigators, and those 
detention officers whom we know are so important in carrying out those 
responsibilities of securing our borders. Coupled with the spring 
supplemental, we will have added over 2,000 new agents in 1 year. That 
brings the total to over 14,300 Border Patrol agents.
  The bill also expands much needed detention space--places to put 
people who illegally cross the border while justice is being 
administered--with 1,000 new beds so that we can be sure people caught 
entering this country illegally are not released before their cases are 
properly prosecuted. Taken with the spring supplemental, we will have 
added over 5,000 beds along the border in 1 year, bringing the total 
number to over 25,300 beds.
  The bill provides nearly $8.2 billion to the Coast Guard to protect 
the 95,000 miles of shoreline border and to inspect both foreign and 
domestic ports. It funds grants so that high-threat, high-density urban 
areas can strengthen their infrastructures against threat 
vulnerabilities. It supports our first responders so that our 
firefighters, police officers, and paramedics have the training they 
need should disaster strike. It provides more than $818 million to 
combat weapons of mass destruction through appropriate research for 
biological and chemical countermeasures as well as for the Domestic 
Nuclear Detection Office to expand nuclear research and radiological 
detection.
  We have to use every single tool available to prevent further attacks 
on American soil. That is why this bill is so important, the Homeland 
Security spending bill. It ensures that vital programs critical to our 
national security have the funding they need to be an effective 
defense.
  Yesterday's bombings in Mumbai were part of a well-coordinated 
attack. We must pass the Homeland Security spending bill swiftly to 
ensure that similar attacks are not repeated and especially are not 
repeated on American soil.
  I yield the floor, and I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Alexander). The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, what is the status of morning business, 
comparing majority and minority?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Democratic leader controls 30 minutes.
  Mr. REID. That time would begin now?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Yes, that is correct.

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