Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2007--Conference Report

DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2007--CONFERENCE REPORT -- (Senate - September 29, 2006)

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Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, I rise today to express frustration and disappointment with a provision included in the fiscal year 2007 Homeland Security appropriations bill. The provision would extend the deadline for the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative from 2008 to 2009.

On August 2 Senate Finance Committee held a hearing to highlight the problems at our Nation's borders. We heard testimony from the Government Accountability Office, GAO, about their undercover border crossings over the last 3 years. The GAO agents used fake documents, phony driver's licenses, and claims of U.S. citizenship in order to enter the United States. According to the GAO, their undercover agents got past the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol 42 of 45 times. CBP failed to catch the intruders 93 percent of the time, proving that anyone with a fake identification and a tall tale can get waived right in the United States.

The committee also heard some very strong evidence as to why the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, WHTI/Initiative, is important and why we should make sure this law is implemented by the deadline established by Congress. In 2004, Congress passed the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act to require the Departments of State and Homeland Security to implement a plan requiring a passport or other document for all travelers entering the United States. We passed this initiative in order to reduce the free travel across our borders by potential terrorists, as recommended unanimously after an extensive investigation by the bipartisan, independent 9/11 Commission.

At the hearing in August, CBP agreed that the initiative is important and told us that they were working to be prepared for the January 1, 2008 deadline. They said the initiative and its passport requirement is the ``gold standard.'' In fact, they even stated that another similar hearing could be held again in a few years if our country did not have a mandatory, standardized document with security features such as biometric identifiers. It was made very clear--border security, in part, depends on secure documents.

Congress, through authorization bills, sets deadlines for a reason. Without them, nothing would get done in Washington. Even with deadlines, agency bureaucrats procrastinate. The US VISIT Program of 1996 is a classic example. The deadline we set for the WHTI is not until January 1, 2008. Extending the deadline in this year's spending bill is premature and foolish. We should have allowed the agency to try to meet the deadline and implement a system that will close our borders to potential terrorists as quickly as possible.

If the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative is delayed, then it is even more critical that our Customs inspectors be equipped with the tools and technology demonstrated at the Finance Committee's August 2 hearing. Only then can they have a better chance at catching people crossing into the United States with fake versions of the currently accepted documents, which are so easy to obtain.

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