Cornyn Statement On Final Passage Of The 9/11 Bill
Press Release
Cornyn Statement On Final Passage Of The 9/11 Bill
U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, Vice-Chairman of the Senate Republican Congress, made the following statement regarding his opposition to final passage of the "Improving America's Security Act of 2007."
"Since the release of the 9/11 Commission findings, I was proud to support and help enact many of their recommendations. It was my hope to continue improving our national security by fighting to strengthen our ability to detain dangerous illegal immigrants, enhance our authority to promptly remove all detained illegal immigrants, create a new crime for recruiting people to commit terrorist attacks, and allocate our limited homeland security dollars to the areas of the nation that are most at risk."
"Yet, inexplicably, my Democrat colleagues chose to block these important security measures and instead give an early Christmas present to their Big Labor supporters in the form of collective bargaining rights for airport security screeners. They passed this provision despite a clear veto threat by the President who believes, as I do, that this would actually weaken our national security. These workers are on the front lines of protecting our nation. The Homeland Security Department said this provision could make us less secure. In fact, when the next major terrorist threat hits, it would force DHS to negotiate with union bosses instead of moving forward immediately with enhanced safety plans.
"Therefore, while there are important components of this legislation, I simply could not support it in this final form, and again, express my deep disappointment that Senate Democrats did not seize this critical opportunity to pass real national security initiatives."
Sen. Cornyn serves on the Armed Services, Judiciary and Budget Committees. In addition, he is Vice Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Ethics. He serves as the top Republican on the Judiciary Committee's Immigration, Border Security and Refugees subcommittee and the Armed Services Committee's Airland subcommittee.
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