[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 15]
[Senate]
[Pages 20264-20265]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           HOMELAND SECURITY

  Ms. COLLINS. Mr. President, I rise this morning to take note of the 
real progress this Congress has made and is on the verge of making in 
strengthening our homeland security.
  This progress--reform of FEMA, protection of our chemical facilities 
and improved security for our seaports--should not be overlooked as we 
conclude a hectic month.
  In the midst of all the charges that Congress has failed to 
accomplish all that we should, I want to call attention to the many 
times when, in fact, Members have cooperated among committees, between 
Chambers, and across party lines to make real progress to benefit the 
American people.
  The 109th Congress has had many such accomplishments that belie the 
stereotype of a rancorous debating society that is unable to enact and 
improve the security of our country.
  Let me focus on three major accomplishments by Congress in the area 
of homeland security. I note that these accomplishments should become 
law shortly as we complete work on the Homeland Security appropriations 
bill.
  The first accomplishment was reaching agreement on a broad array of 
reforms to improve the Department of Homeland Security, including 
urgently needed reform and reinforcement of the Federal Emergency 
Management Agency.
  The recommendations for improvements the result of the Senate 
Committee on Homeland Security's 7-month investigation into the failed 
preparations and response to Hurricane Katrina. This investigation, 
which was completely bipartisan, included 23 hearings, testimony and 
interviews of some 400 people, and a review of more than 838,000 pages 
of documents.
  The committee's recommendations will make FEMA a distinct entity 
within DHS. Why does that matter? It matters because it gives FEMA the 
same kinds of protections enjoyed by the Coast Guard and the Secret 
Service. It protects FEMA from arbitrary budget cuts or departmental 
reorganizations that are implemented without congressional review.
  FEMA's Administrator, under the reforms included in the 
appropriations bill, will become the President's principal adviser for 
all-hazards emergency management.
  Another important reform is that the legislation reunites 
preparedness and response and makes FEMA responsible and empowered for 
all phases of emergency management--preparation, mitigation, response, 
and recovery.
  A very important reform will be the creation of response strike teams 
to ensure a more effective response to disasters.
  What we will do is create in the 10 regions of the United States 
multi-agency task forces comprising representatives from every Federal 
agency that is involved in responding to or preparing for disaster. 
They will train and exercise with their State and local counterparts, 
with NGOs, such as the Red Cross, and with the key for-profit 
businesses, such as utility companies. That will ensure that they won't 
need to be exchanging business cards in the midst of the next disaster.
  I was struck during our investigation of Hurricane Katrina that so 
many people from FEMA Region I--the region the Presiding Officer and I 
are from, New England--were sent down to Louisiana to help with the 
response to Hurricane Katrina. The problem, of course, is they didn't 
know the people, they didn't know the geography, they didn't know the 
culture, they didn't have knowledge of what assets could be mobilized 
in the response. These regional teams will ensure that does not happen 
again.
  We also addressed issues such as chronic staffing shortages at FEMA, 
the need for better pre-positioning of emergency supplies and tracking 
of shipments, better grant-making authority to improve coordination 
regionally and with local responders, and the need to provide 
survivable and interoperable communications.
  We also revised the Stafford Act to bring it up to date and make it 
more flexible and responsive.
  The second major homeland security accomplishment of this Congress is 
still a work in progress, but I am very optimistic that it will, in 
fact, become law, and that is the port-security bill which this Chamber 
recently passed unanimously. Senator Murray and I have led a bipartisan 
effort to enact this legislation. There have been many other Members on 
both sides of the aisle involved, including on my committee Senator 
Coleman and Senator Lieberman.
  With 361 ports in this country and some 11 million shipping 
containers arriving each year, we desperately need better assurances 
that our seaports and these containers are not going to be used to 
bring weapons, explosives, bio-terror compounds, or even a squad of 
terrorists into our country.
  The vulnerability of our seaports is perhaps best underscored by an 
incident that occurred in Seattle in April, when 22 Chinese nationals 
were successful in coming all the way from China to Seattle in a 
shipping container. If 22 illegal Chinese nationals can come to our 
country via a shipping container, it shows we still have a lot of work 
to do to ensure better security at our seaports.
  The legislation this Chamber passed is balanced legislation that 
strengthens our security while recognizing the importance of trade and 
not bringing the shipment of containers to a halt. The port-security 
package fills a dangerous gap in our defenses. I hope we will enact it 
before leaving here this week.
  The third area of accomplishment involves the security of chemical 
plants, plants that either use, store, or manufacture large quantities 
of hazardous chemicals.
  Last January, I held a hearing in which I asked several experts: What 
are your greatest concerns? What gaps do we have in our homeland 
security? The lack of regulation of our chemical plants came up time 
and again. Our existing protections are a patchwork of different 
authorities--State, Coast Guard, and voluntary industry standards. They 
are inadequate, given the threats we face.
  Now, this has been a very difficult debate, but I think it is so 
important to remember that right now, the Department of Homeland 
Security lacks the authority to set risk- and performance-based 
standards for security at our chemical facilities despite the fact that 
terrorism experts tell us al-Qaida is focused on chemical plants and 
chemical explosions.
  We have some 15,000 chemical facilities around the country, including 
more than 3,000 sites where a terrorist attack could cause considerable 
casualties among nearby populations. Language in the DHS appropriations 
bill would, for the first time, empower DHS to set performance-based 
security standards for high-risk chemical facilities. That is 
approximately 3,400 facilities across this country.
  Very importantly, this legislation will allow the Secretary of 
Homeland Security to shut down a noncompliant plant. I fought very hard 
for this authority to be included in the appropriations bill. It does 
no good to empower the Secretary to set these risk-based, performance-
based standards but then provide the tools to enforce them.
  I recognize there are many chemical plants and chemical companies 
across this country which have voluntarily taken strong steps to 
improve their security in the wake of the attacks on our country on 9/
11. Unfortunately, the Department of Homeland Security has told us 
there are many plants which have not improved their security at all or 
which have taken insufficient measures. We can no longer rely on just 
voluntary compliance with industry standards.
  So this legislation is landmark legislation. It closes a dangerous 
gap in our homeland security, and it has been included in the Homeland 
Security appropriations bill.
  I would note that the language includes a three-year sunset. The 
reason for that is we will want to evaluate the effectiveness of this 
approach, the effectiveness of the regulations, and also consider other 
measures that were not

[[Page 20265]]

included in this bill. The committee I am privileged to chair 
unanimously reported chemical-security legislation that was more 
comprehensive than the measures included in the appropriations bill. 
This will give us a chance to evaluate the efforts that have been 
taken, that will be taken, and then to go back and look at some of the 
issues that were not included.
  I want to be very clear. This is a major step forward. It will help 
close a dangerous gap in our homeland security, and it is significant 
progress in eliminating or at least lessening a significant risk to our 
country.
  These are three significant steps forward: the reform of FEMA, the 
port security bill, and the new authority for DHS to set security 
measures for chemical facilities. Each of them was made possible 
because of bipartisan cooperation. At times in this Chamber, we berate 
ourselves for failing to achieve consensus on legislation that is so 
important to the American people, but we did it in these three cases--
or we are on the verge of doing it--and it is because we did have good 
cooperation and strong leadership. It was not easy. But the legislation 
we are passing will advance our ability to protect the American people.
  I compliment all of the Members of the Senate, our partners on the 
House side, as well as members of the administration who have stepped 
forward and worked so hard to make these reforms a reality. Our success 
in advancing these achievements in strengthening our homeland security 
should be a source of justifiable pride to the Members of this body.
  Mr. DORGAN. Mr. President, could you describe the circumstances of 
the Senate? Are we in morning business?
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The circumstances are as follows: 
The Senate is in a period of morning business. The minority holds 15 
minutes. The majority has used all of its time.
  Mr. DORGAN. So the minority's 15 minutes is now available and ready 
for use?
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from North Dakota is 
recognized.

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