Department Of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2008

Floor Speech

DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2008 -- (Senate - July 25, 2007)

Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I thank Chairman Byrd, Senator Murray, and Senator Cochran for their leadership on this outstanding bill which will help make America safer and, of course, we in New York particularly care about homeland security. I want to commend the committee for putting together a bill that shows the Nation where our priorities lie. After years of shortchanging the Department of Homeland Security, the committee has now put forth a bill that will sufficiently fund the Department, in my judgment. In the next year, DHS will finally be equipped to do its job of making our Nation safer from harm.

The bill will make America safer by investing in high priority projects--such as the kind of technology we need to keep us safe--while also protecting us at our borders, in our skies, at our ports of entry, and on our subways, rail, and mass transit systems.

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Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I am introducing an amendment that will require the Government to test an array of possible card technologies before creating new passport cards for land border crossings.

Under the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, the Department of Homeland Security is moving toward new rules to require travelers to show a passport or an approved alternative document at land ports of entry. As we all saw from the record passport backlogs over the past few months, the Nation suffers when the administration makes big changes at the border without adequate preparation. Yet with the new passport cards, DHS and the State Department seem to be rushing forward blindly again. They have already issued a proposed rule on passport card technology, but when I questioned officials from DHS and the State Department, they admitted they had not done any on-the-ground testing of their proposed cards. This lack of testing is especially shocking because the administration is making a very unusual move in trying to use a type of technology that has weaker security capabilities than some of the other options that are out there. We don't know whether it would work on the border unless we test it.

I think that with proper preparation and testing, we can have a border document that is both secure and efficient, that preserves both security and allows commerce to continue to flow freely across the border. That is what I want to see. But if we let the DHS push this forward, I am concerned that travelers will get the worst of both worlds.

DHS in this case has it all backward. They need to do the testing before making a final choice of technology. We need to know that any new cards will be reliable, secure, efficient, and easy to use. If the administration won't do that testing on its own, then Congress must step in. My amendment says DHS and the State Department need to do a serious evaluation comparison of two or more card technologies before they issue a final regulation to start selling these cards to people. This is a smart and straightforward way to make sure the administration is spending money wisely. I can't see why anyone would object to it, and I hope we can certainly agree without much controversy to pass it into law.

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