Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2010
Floor Speech
DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2010 -- (Senate - July 09, 2009)
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Mr. TESTER. We have two Senators for every State in this country. Our forefathers drafted that out. The reason was we don't dictate on population, we don't dictate on landmass, we dictate on need.
The fact is, there are millions of acres of Forest Service grounds; a national park--one of the jewels of this country--to the east; a border to the north where there are real threats that we need to make secure and work with our neighborhoods to the north to make sure we do not have terrorist activity come across the border.
The truth is, the sponsor of this amendment talked about the President zeroing out this program. Why doesn't the amendment zero out the program? It doesn't. The sponsor cherry-picked one expenditure in the bill and said this isn't the way we should be spending money. I appreciate that. We are having a debate here on that. But this is much needed for the security of this country and for the security of the region.
Mrs. MURRAY. Will the Senator from Montana yield?
Mr. TESTER. Yes, I would.
Mrs. MURRAY. My understanding is over the last decade there have been 28 Presidential disasters which occurred in that region.
Mr. TESTER. I believe that is correct.
Mrs. MURRAY. So 28 times in the last 10 years there has been a major disaster that has been responded to, whether it is a fire in the park, on the Federal land, or a border issue or whatever, so this is not just about Whitefish, am I correct?
Mr. TESTER. It is not about Whitefish at all.
Mrs. MURRAY. It is about the entire region and the ability for all the different agencies to respond, is that correct?
Mr. TESTER. That is correct.
Mr. MURRAY. That clarifies the importance for this emergency center. I thank the Senator.
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Mrs. MURRAY. Madam President, I thank my colleague from Ohio for his statement in opposition to the McCain amendment.
I rise as well to speak on behalf of Senator Byrd who, as we all know, is home recovering from a serious illness. The committee bill does include $39.7 million for the continued expansion of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, CBP, Advanced Training Center. The ATC, which opened back in 2005, provides advanced firearms and tactical training to CBP law enforcement personnel and personnel of other Federal agencies.
The center is expanding in phases. It is consistent with this master plan I hold in my hand. This plan actually was transmitted to Congress back in 2007 and was approved then by the Office of Management and Budget and the Department of Homeland Security.
This master plan accommodates advanced training consistent with the mission of securing our borders. CBP employees are stationed throughout the Nation at land and border crossings, at airports, at seaports, and other urban environments with a need for practical, unique, progressive, and flexible training.
There is no other training of this kind, I want my colleagues to know, and there has never been a time that it has been needed more.
Senator Byrd strongly--he wants us to know--supports the Advanced Training Center and its mission and is going to continue to fight hard for the security of this great country. Customs and Border Protection needs and deserves the advanced training facility to assure that the more than 50,000 Customs and Border Protection agents, officers, and other personnel have the training they require when they are sent in harm's way.
This facility is expected to train over 3,200 law enforcement and other employees in fiscal year 2009, and that is expected to grow to more than 5,000 each year.
I urge our colleagues to vote against that plan.
I, again, would like everyone to know we are hoping Senator Rockefeller will be back shortly. He will speak on this amendment. We are hoping to set up this amendment for a vote around 2 o'clock.
Madam President, with that, I rise to offer the Dodd-Lieberman amendment No. 1458, which I understand is at the desk.
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Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, the amendment that is now pending is an amendment that increases fire grant programs by $10 million. It is fully offset. The fire grant programs provide funds to equip, train, and hire our firefighters. The committee provided an increase in the bill because in 2007 there were over 20,731 applications, totaling $3.1 billion, and FEMA could only approve 5,132 of those applications due to limited funds.
I hope we can move quickly to a vote on this amendment. We wish to move forward. I know several Senators have amendments they wish to offer, and if we can move to a vote on this fairly quickly, I think everybody would be amenable to that.
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Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, for the information of all Senators, the amendment following the vote on the Murray amendment is a Coburn amendment about ensuring that government contracts are competitively awarded. I agree with the premise of the amendment that follows this. However, his amendment is drafted in a way that precludes certain types of contracts that are authorized by statute and have the strong support of Congress. For example, his amendment doesn't acknowledge contracts that are authorized by the Small Business Act, such as minority-owned businesses, women-owned businesses, businesses owned by service-disabled veterans. The Coburn language also ignores the AbilityOne Program, known as the Javits-Wagner-O'Day Program, which provides job opportunities for blind and disabled Americans through Federal contracts.
The amendment I am offering assures that we do award government contracts competitively but does it in a way that makes sure we take care of small businesses and veteran-owned businesses and women-owned businesses.
I encourage all my colleagues to vote for the Murray amendment.
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Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, the Senate just adopted an amendment that ensures that the government contracts are competitively awarded. The amendment Senator Coburn is now offering will undo everything we just did to assure that all businesses--small business, minority-owned businesses, women-owned businesses, businesses owned by service-disabled veterans--
will be eligible to bid on these contracts.
I urge the Senate to vote no.
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AMENDMENT NO. 1430 TO AMENDMENT NO. 1373
Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, the next amendment and final amendment in order is the Sanders amendment. I believe the Senator will speak.
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Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I rise in opposition to this amendment. I also want fire grants. I want everybody to understand that the committee amendment already has $810 million in it for fire grants. That is an increase of $35 million. We just adopted another amendment to add $10 million to this.
The offset that is in this bill will eliminate all the technology development and design to address capabilities. It decimates the counter-improvised explosive device--IED--technology. It specifically eliminates mass transit-specific counter-IED technologies. It decimates cyber-security research and development. The Senate computers are being attacked today. It eliminates the research to make sure we can stop that. It eliminates development and assessment of high throughput cargo screening technology. The list goes on.
I believe we should be doing all we can for our firefighters. Even the International Association of Firefighters does not support this amendment--although I appreciate the Senator offering this amendment, and I agree with what he would like to do. But the offset decimates much of the technology we need to protect our citizens.
I urge a ``no'' vote.
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Mr. MENENDEZ. Mr. President, I rise for the purpose of entering into a colloquy with the Senator to highlight a serious concern with regard to FEMA's subcontracting practices related to the Risk Mapping, Assessment, and Planning Program.
Mrs. MURRAY. I welcome a colloquy with my distinguished colleague.
Mr. Menendez. I thank the Senator. I have constituents back in my home State of New Jersey who have highlighted a concern with a current FEMA solicitation for their Risk Mapping, Assessment, and Planning Program. I am concerned that this solicitation shuts out both small and medium sized businesses. After Hurricane Katrina, FEMA was, rightly so, criticized for issuing sole-source contracts to three very large companies. We need to be sure this pattern is not repeating itself.
I agree that updating the Nation's flood map is critical to managing and reducing the Nation's flood risk, but operating the program to benefit taxpayers by utilizing local, highly qualified businesses, I am sure, will produce the best results for the region, the State, and the country as well.
In addition, I believe that taking local companies, with over a decade of experience and a track record of success, out of regional Indefinite Quantity and Indefinite Delivery contract work is counterproductive and has the potential to cost the taxpayers more money while providing an inferior product.
Mrs. MURRAY. I thank the Senator from New Jersey for highlighting this issue. I agree that the flood-map program is an instrumental tool in reducing the loss of life and property from floods. The Homeland Security Subcommittee will work with the Senator to review the recent contract solicitation. I am committed to ensuring that DHS invests acquisition dollars in projects that are well planned, competitively awarded, well managed, closely overseen, and best able to serve local needs.
Mr. MENENDEZ. I appreciate the Senator's comments on that. This is not just about the State of New Jersey, which has had a number of flooding problems in the past, but this is an important concern of fairness to address the issue of flooding across the country as well. I thank the Senator for her interest and willingness to work with me on this issue.
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