Senator Reed Rises in Support of Breaux Amendment

Mr. REED. Mr. President, I rise in support of the Breaux Federal homeland security responsibilities amendment. This amendment addresses a number of important homeland security needs that the administration has failed to adequately fund, and it deserves the support of this Senate.

I particularly want to thank the author of this amendment for including specific resources to help protect our Nation's transit systems and the 14 million Americans who depend on them to get to work or elsewhere safely and securely every workday.

In the 107th Congress, as the chairman of the Housing and Transportation Subcommittee, I chaired two hearings on the topic of transit security in the wake of September 11. At these hearings, we heard from transit operators and others that public transportation is regrettably a target for terrorists. Indeed, roughly one-third of terrorist attacks worldwide have occurred against transportation systems. One only needs to watch international news to see pictures of the devastation of suicide bombers on buses.

Senator Sarbanes and I also requested a General Accounting Office report on transit security entitled "Mass Transit: Federal Action Could Help Transit Agencies Address Security Challenges." The GAO found that the Federal Transit Administration and the Transportation Safety Administration were providing technical assistance and some training to transit systems, but that there are still many unmet needs. For example, when the GAO asked just eight transit systems how much they needed to address their security needs, the answer was over $700 million. Transit systems also expressed concern that there is often insufficient planning, communication and coordination with local, State and Federal law enforcement entities.

The administration, which has embraced the Senate's efforts to improve aviation security, has unfortunately not shown the same level of commitment to our transit systems. It failed to request specific funding for transit security in either its fiscal year 2004 budget or its fiscal year 2003 supplemental request.

The Breaux amendment would address this shortcoming by providing a down-payment for transit security improvements and send a strong signal to the millions of working men and women who ride our subways, buses, and commuter rail lines that their government is aggressively working to improve transit security.

I urge my colleagues to support this amendment.