Press Conference With Senator Patty Murray; Senator Mary Landrieu; Senator Frank Lautenberg

Statement

PRESS CONFERENCE WITH SENATOR PATTY MURRAY (D-WA); SENATOR MARY LANDRIEU (D-LA); SENATOR FRANK LAUTENBERG (D-NJ)

SENATE RADIO/TV GALLERY, WASHINGTON, D.C.
10:33 A.M. EDT, TUESDAY, JULY 24, 2007

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SEN. MURRAY: Well, good morning to all of you.

Last week, the administration released a National Intelligence Estimate that declared our homeland to be under a persistent and evolving threat over the next three years. Days earlier than that, we saw a report from the National Counterterrorism Center titled: "Al Qaeda Better Positioned to Strike the West." Never has the need for strong Homeland Security legislation been more clear. That's why I'm very proud today to join my colleagues who are here with me today, as well as our chairman, Senator Byrd, to fight to pass the Homeland Security appropriations bill on the floor.

This is a bipartisan bill that funds the critical security needs across our country. From local firehouses and police departments to our borders to our airports and our seaports, we are going to make our country more secure and better able to respond to disasters.

Let me talk about a couple of specifics.

I'm especially pleased that this bill boosts our investment in port security. Last year, the Senate passed the Murray-Collins GreenLane bill now known as the Safe Ports Act. The president signed that bill into law, but he did not provide adequate funding to carry out many of the provisions within it. We are trying now to fix that oversight by fully funding port security grants for the first time ever.

In addition, I want to mention the tremendous help to our first responders, emergency planners and local law enforcement that is critical in this bill. This program has been under repeated attacks by this president. Last week, the Department of Homeland Security announced that they would be reducing this year's Homeland Security grants in my home state by $3.3 million. This year, the president cut the State Homeland Security Grant Program in half. We want to restore those cuts. Our states and our cities have huge security needs, and many of those needs go unmet today. I believe that the federal government has a role in shouldering this burden.

Unfortunately now, President Bush has threatened to veto Homeland Security appropriations because it spends too much on Homeland Security. Well, think about that for a minute. We have all this evidence that we need to be more secure at home, and the president's budget would make less secure here at home.

If he wants to veto this bill, he's going to have to explain to the American people why the police department down the street will be getting less support, why the fire station around the corner will be getting less help, and why their community cannot develop an emergency plan so they are prepared for a disaster. If the president really wants to veto this bill, he's going to have to make his case to the American people.

I, for one, am proud of this bill. I know that when we get it passed and signed into law, it will help our communities take the steps that they need to take today to assure that our citizens are safe and secure here at home.

Joining me today is Senator Landrieu and Senator Lautenberg, two members of our Appropriations Committee that have worked very hard to make sure that this bill is done in a way that meets the needs of our citizens in this country.

Senator Landrieu.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

SEN. MURRAY: Thank you.

Questions, yes, sir.

Q In the past, an awful lot of homeland security spending has been directed toward the aviation industry. This seems to be moving away from that to other sectors. What -- how much money -- are you abandoning aviation security? Or --

SEN. MURRAY: No, we have to keep our eye on the ball in terms of aviation security. Our concern is that the administration has kept its eye only on the ball of aviation security. In this bill, we focus our attention on providing the resources for our ports, where we have cargo container coming in that we know having worked -- Senator Lautenberg worked on Homeland Committee last year, and we worked with him on the port security bill that came through the Senate and the House bipartisanly, but the money was not there. You can't just talk about cargo security without providing the dollars you need to actually make the programs work. So we focus and direct our attention on other areas beyond aviation security in this bill.

SEN. LAUTENBERG: May I say just one quick word about that?

Our bill includes a lifting of the lid on the number of TSA screeners that can be employed, and it's pretty obvious if you go to airports, that the delays are bad enough, but if you have to stand in a long line and wait to get to your -- to the airplane, that lends further anxiety and less productivity. So we are very conscious of what we've got to do to help aviation be protected.

We also have to do more to protect other means of transportation. Amtrak, for instance. We get a tiny sum of money for Amtrak to screen its passengers, and yet Amtrak is carrying more passengers than it ever did before. And railroads now, Penn Station, has more visitors, more passengers come through there than all three airports -- major airports in the area put together.

Q (Off mike) -- your bill provide in terms of funding for port security? And what kind of -- (off mike) --

SEN. MURRAY: The bill has $400 million to fund port security grants, which is a critical part of the cargo security, and other parts focus on making sure that the GreenLane option begins to move forward that will assure that cargo containers that are overseas are inspected and sealed before they come into our containers here at home -- into our ports.

Yes?

Q Senators Landrieu and Lautenberg, you have a lot of chemical plants in your states. What does this bill do, if anything, regarding the inherently safer technology issue with regard to chemical companies? And do you think that the chemical companies should be forced in some way to use safer, less toxic chemicals to alleviate the threat of terrorism?

SEN. LAUTENBERG: Well, one of the things that's been discussed at length in recent weeks, recent months is whether or not the federal government can preempt states' plans to -- for protecting facilities that carry chemicals, manufacture, transport, store, you name it, from having more rigid standards, and we asked for inherently safer technology, obviously, products to substitute for those that are more dangerous but accomplish the same mission.

Right now the chemical security amendment is in the bill, and we are looking for it to pass and planning to make sure that states preserve their rights to ask for these -- this improved technology.

We should. It's hard to understand why we wouldn't.

SEN. MURRAY: All right. Thank you.

SEN. LAUTENBERG: Thanks very much.

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