Statements on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions

STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS

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Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, I am glad to hear our new colleague from New Jersey talking about our national security, and certainly this is one subject which always concerns us. It is the primary role of our National Government to provide for the security of the American people. I hope that in the debate, though, about the control of our ports, we don't operate on the basis of looking for political advantage but, rather, we take a calm and deliberate review of the facts.

I heard this morning, in the Armed Services Committee, from the Director of National Intelligence, who said that after a review of this transaction, it was his opinion, as the lead Government official for the intelligence community in our Nation, that any risk in this transaction was low. Certainly, that was useful information to have, and I anticipate that we will continue to hear more as the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Subcommittee continues to look into this transaction, and I trust we will do our due diligence during this 45-day review period.

But I hope we don't make this a political football. I hope we don't paint this with such a broad brush that we consider any Arab nation our enemy when, in fact, this Nation has been an ally in the global war on terror. I hope we will make our judgments based on behavior and not where someone comes from or their ethnicity or other origins because, of course, fanning the flames of prejudice based upon those sorts of considerations would be inappropriate entirely.

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