same time as i travel the state i heard people talk about tax policy it's clear to people in an akron and youngstown it's clear to people in dayton and middletown and hamilton and dallas police and galley in ohio that too often the wealthy have paid as their income goes up and up and up is paid very little in taxes relatively while middle class families get more and more burden we saw from one nine hundred forty six to one nine hundred seventy three in the history of this country economic opportunities for poor families and working families grew and then from one nine hundred seventy three to two thousand we saw pretty much level out and we've seen those families that are working hard playing by the rules not even enjoy increases at all in their wages in fact the fall behind in too many cases that's why today in addition to passing the bill providing opportunity for students to go to ohio state or to hiram college to go to the university toledo or to go to the university student bill students in ohio have more opportunity after this bill becomes law if we can get the president to sign it than than they had yesterday and today is also a cause to celebrate today the minimum wage goes into effect the first raise in ten years nearly nearly today that she that that for three hundred thousand while is working how iowans thirteen million workers nationwide will see their wages go up today for ten years would worker productivity has gone up in this country more productive workers meant higher income workers but too often we've seen a disconnect between productivity in wages while american workers are continually more productive their wages have not gone up whether that's a minimum wage worker whether it's whether it's a worker making twenty dollars an hour that's way too common today we did something about it for those minimum wage workers that because of workers in this country minimum wage in higher income workers because of what they did last november and voted for change minimum wage workers have the increase in the ten that they deserve and that they've earned it's a good day for american workers specially good day for minimum wage workers we have a lot more work to do mr president i yield back my time i suggest the absence of  this morning i gave my opening remarks the vote of twenty nine to zero has produced a balanced and responsible bill needs action now the bill includes significant resources for vital border security for enforcing our immigration laws and via improving security at our airport we include significant new resources for implementing the safe port act we also restore cut and first responder grant program cochran and i was able to staff whether support and producing this legislation just last week the administration released its latest national intelligence estimate concerning the terrorist threat to the u s homeland released its latest national intelligence estimate concerning the terrorist threat to the u s homeland we're talking about the from the report of the administration the bush administration from mitchell latest national intelligence estimate concerning the terrorist threat to the u s homeland our quote from the report here me quote we judge the u s homeland will face a persisted and evolving terrorist threat over the next three years that thank you thank you thank i say this again now listen just last week somewhere else u s homeland and i will quote from the report this report from the bush administration we judge you know i'm quoting we judge the u s homeland will face a persisted and evolving terrorist threat over the next three y the main threat comes from islamic terrorism groups and sailed a special day al qaeda is driven by undiminished intent to attack the homeland and a continued effort by these terrorist groups to adapt and improve their capabilities we judge that al  hear those other words that should force our government both in the executive and in the legislative branches to reevaluate their priorit s were give being to funding to stop terrorist attacks against this current today our country your country my country i look forward to a good  i'm pleased to join the distinguished senator from west virginia in presenting the fiscal year two thousand and eight appropriations bill for the department of homeland security i ask unanimous consent that the following appropriations committee staff members and in terms be granted floor privileges during the consideration of the homeland security procreation to bill and any votes that may occur in relation to the bill carol krib mark vendor water mr president apparition very much the curtis's of the distinguished senator from west virginia and his staff and all members of the appropriations committee during our hearings and the preparation of this bill we haven't agreed on everything but this bill reflects our best effort to reach a fair resolution of our differences i had hoped for instance that we could have held the overall level of proposed spending to no more than the president requested in his budget that were submitted to the congress earlier this year i'm pleased that the bill recommends approval of the president budget request for border security and includes three thousand new border patrol agents one billion dollars for continued work on the virtual fence and other tactical infrastructure funding above the president's request added to accommodate an additional three thousand detention beds one of the consistent criticisms that we hear about the department is its challenges to hire the right people for the right jobs and to reduce its reliance on contractors unfortunately the bill before us proposes to cut the human resource accounts significantly these cuts handicap the department in getting the right people into the right jobs to address many of the issues that critics have complained about we can all agree that the department should be focused on hiring and retaining the best personnel it can succession planning diversity an initiative performance management and workforce relations are all critical issues by underfunding the programs that are designed to meet these challenges we run the risk of creating a cycle of unmet promises and potential this department is too important for that i must also express my concern that this bill restricts the obligation of funds in ten instances when i recognize this is within the power or of the appropriations committee and is sometimes necessary i think we have overdone it in this bill in three separate instances this bill provides reduction in funding for the deputy secretary of the department of one thousand dollars per day if certain deadlines are not met i would prefer to express our concerns in some other way and at least consider reasons that may have caused the deadlines to have been missed before automatically reducing appropriated accounts i'm equally frustrated with the department's inability to meet deadlines that congress sets and i expect the department to meet statutory deadlines but this approach is not workable the report accompanying this bill is harshly critical of the administration's handling of security at federal facilities these are federal facilities that receive protection from the federal protective service and i do not agree with that the federal protective service has worked hard to rationalize that fee structure and its mission sent joining the department of homeland security it has not yet finished the process but the administration remains deeply committed to the safety and security of all government employees the report accompanying this bill also criticizes the department for legislation that congress has passed unlikely that all senators agree with all of the legislation that is enacted here but to blame it on the executive branch agency charged with carrying out the law is hard to rationalize it is unfair and it is wrong last year the appropriations committee worked very closely with the authorizing committee is to craft a compromise on chemical sites security langridge chairman byrd's leadership last year led to the enactment of a provision in the fiscal year two thousand and seven act that will lead to regulating the chemical sector for the first time i intend to continue to work with the chairman to ensure that sufficient resources are provided through the department so that in force moment of these regulations is achieved i'm pleased the committee is recommending nearly full funding for the coastguards deepwater recapitalization effort as well as support for the transportation security administration federal emergency management agency and infrastructure protection these are activities that are needed to continue to improve the security of our homeland and generous funding is fully justified this comes with the senate floor during a time when our intelligence community has judged that the nation is and i quote in a heightened threat environment in quote while there continues to be no credible specific intelligence to suggest an imminent threat recent events in the united kingdom serve to remind us of the very serious nature and the potential consequences of terrorist attacks i hope that we can move expeditiously to pass this bill so that we can begin conference with the house mr president earlier remarks today on the floor of the then it may have suggested that the department of homeland security isn't doing its job well today this one day the department of homeland security will process more than one point one million passengers and pedestrians including six hundred eighty thousand aliens arriving at our nation's airports and seaports today the department will inspect more than seventy thousand one hundred trucks and containers five hundred eighty vessels two thousand four hundred fifty nine aircraft and three hundred twenty seven thousand forty two privately owned vehicles coming into this country will house and care for nineteen thousand a million in detention facilities it will screen approximately two million passengers and their one point six million pieces of checked baggage before they board commercial aircraft it will make sixty three arrests at ports of entry and two thousand nine hundred eighty four apprehensions between ports for illegal entry it will intercept twenty seven thousand prohibited items that airport checkpoints including over three thousand knives it will train more than three thousand five hundred federal or federal officers and agents from more than eighty different federal agencies as well as state local tribal and international officers and agents today the coast guard will say fourteen lives assist a hundred twenty three people in distress and respond to a twelve or oil and hazardous chemical spill today the department of homeland security will naturalize more than one thousand nine hundred new citizens it will conduct one hundred thirty five thousand national security background checks on those applying for immigration benefits  will process thirty thousand applications for immigrant immigrant benefits it will help american parents adopt nearly one hundred twenty five foreign born orphans the department will help protect an additional one hundred four homes from the devastating effects of flooding and protect dozens of high profile government officials including members of this body the president in the vice pres in the united states visiting heads of state and former presidents this list of daily accomplishments provided just a sample of the important responsibilities and roads of the department of homeland security to accomplish these responsibilities this bill provides thirty six point four billion dollars in discretionary spending and one point one billion dollars in mandatory spending for fiscal year two thousand and eight i must point out this bill provides two point two five billion dollars more in discretionary appropriations than the amount proposed by the president in his budget submission to the congress the bulk of the increase from the president's request level one point eight billion dollars is devoted to increasing grants to states and localities these proposed increases would come quickly on the heels of nearly three hundred million dollars being added for grants contained in the emergency appropriations act which was enacted in may the nine eleven commission report warned about grant programs becoming entrenched as entitlement programs for state and local governments we need to make a strong and successful effort to ensure that all we appropriate are fully justified mr president i look forward to considering any amendments that senators may suggest to the bail and to continue our work to ensure that we produce a work product that will reflect credit on the senate and provide the funds that are important to the carrying out of duties and responsibilities of the department of homeland security for the next the school to ensure that the department has the resources that it needs to enforce the new chemical security standards to the floor president center from washington thank you mr president mr president we face extremely serious threats here at home and that is why it is so important that the senate pass this homeland security appropriations bill that is now before us this bill is designed to help strengthen our security at the federal level at the state level and at the local level from our local fire heart houses and our police departments to our borders airports seaports this bill will help our country be more secure and better able to respond to any disasters we may encounter this year in his budget president bush sought to cut funding for first responders and for emergency planning and frankly he failed to adequately fund border security and port security but here in the senate we have a different view we want to invest in our security here at home and we have written and designed a bill that i believe reflects the right priorities for this country mr president i am honored to serve on the appropriations committee and on the homeland security subcommittee under our doing distinguished chairman  senator byrd no one cares more about the american people and no one has worked harder on this bill than senator byrd thanks to his efforts and senator cochran the bill that's before us passed our subcommittee unanimously and it passed the full appropriations committee unanimously as well that's strong support that we saw on both subcommittee and full committee is really critical because mr president the president has threatened to veto this bill he thinks it spends too to much on homeland security well the president is welcome to make it that argument but in these times when we are facing terror threats and natural disasters i think the american people want us to provide more support for homeland security not less there are many very important investments in this bill i'd like to focus on three of them that i have a special interest in because i come as a senator from a border state and my state has some of the country's busiest cargo ports and i'm an advocate for our local law enforcement first responders and emergency planners is the president this bill will provide more resources for  border security and actually provides an additional two hundred forty million dollars for new immigration related homeland security costs those costs are not funded in the president's bill as we all work to step up and forstmann at our borders we have to provide the resources from the federal level that's why this bill does that i'm also especially pleased that this bill boosts our investment in port security you know over the years i've worked with all of the stake holders to make our ports more secure last year in fact the senate passed the murray collins green line bill now known as the safe ports act now the president the united states signed our bill into law but he did not provide adequate funding so we could carry out the provisions of that legislation we've been working to fix that here in the senate we started in the supplemental bill that passed a few months ago where we boosted funding for port security great grants and hired more customs inspectors we are continuing that work with this bill by fully funding port security grants for the first time ever this bill provides sixty million dollars as well to create coast guard interagency operation centers those are centers that will allow the federal government local governments and state authorities to coordinate their efforts in maritime security the final part of this bill that i just want to quickly mention will be a tremendous help to our responders to our emergency planners and to our local law enforcement agencies in his budget the president cut the state homeland security grant programs in half this bill restores that cut it's going to raise those state grants from the president's level of two hundred fifty million dollars to the appropriate level of five hundred twenty five million is to present our states and our cities have huge security needs and many of those means go needs go on met today i believe that the federal government who is in charge of our nation's security has a role in sharing sharing that burden in addition the president's budget drastically cut the law enforcement terrorism prevention program well to me that is really out of touch with with what our local law enforcement leaders at home are telling us what they need they're telling us they need more help not less so i'm very pleased that in this bill we save that important program so it can continue to help our local law enforcement officials this grant provide funds for anti terrorism to our first responders in each of our states that mr president is an area we've got to strengthen and we do so with the bill that's now before the senate you know given the strong support this bill got in subcommittee and folk many i am hopeful that the senate will pass it fairly quickly over the next several days by a wide margin then of course it will be up to the president to decide if the american people will get the security that they deserve now syosset a few minutes ago president bush has threatened to veto this bill because he says it spends too much on homeland security well think about that for a minute our intelligence agencies just warned us last tuesday that outcry is undiminished in its goal of attacking our homeland but what does the president say he wants to cut funding for first responders that report found that al qaeda is rebuilding its capabilities its leadership is intact and it continues to plan high impact plots that's what the president's and i e is telling us but what is the president saying right now he wants to cut funding for a local anti terror experts our intelligence experts judge that al qaeda will intensify its efforts to put operatives here on american soil right here but the president wants to cut funding to enforce our borders madam president we have all this evidence that we need to be more secure here at home and we have approached the president's budget that makes us less secure here at home if the president wants to veto this bill he's going to have to explain to the american people why the police department down the street from you is going to be getting less support he's going to have to explain why the fire station around the corner is going to get less how it's going after explain why your community can't develop an emergency plan so they are prepared for any disaster that may occur if the president really plans to veto this bill he's going to have to make the case to the american people well i say i'm proud of this bill i'm proud of the work of the committee and i know it will help our communities take the steps they must to keep us all safe and i urge all of our colleagues to quickly pass this bill bill vote for it has made important contributions she always makes important contributions and she has made important contributions to this critical legislation had developed expertise in the field of homeland security particularly with regard to port security for me say that again senator had developed expertise in the field of homeland security particularly with regard to port security and that takes time that takes effort that takes work you just don't develop expertise rising on the senate floor and they have got to know it takes so senator marea developed expertise then the field of homeland security particularly with regard to port security i have come to rely on her expertise and i look forward from north dakota madam president the two legislators who bring this bill to the floor the senator serious and thoughtful legislators senator byrd and senator cochran have been around this place for some while they have been on the appropriations committee and both of chaired that committee and i'm pleased to be here to support their work i think this is a very important subcommittee and one that funds critically important programs for this country but i want to say that unlike other subcommittees an appropriations one of which i chair and will hopefully bring that bill to the floor of the senate this subcommittees actions and this subcommittees products represent an urgency for this country we probably don't say that about every  we need to fund the things that we need to do but this is urgent and i want to describe why it is urgent i come from a small town of three hundred people in southwestern corner of my state i was thinking as i was sitting here waiting to speak this is called homeland security if in fact this were a decision and deliberation by my hometown and the subject where hometown security and we knew what the most serious threat to our town was we'd go find that right and try to eliminate it i want to tell you why i believe this is an urgent circumstance to pass this piece of legislation my colleague from washington described the national intelligence estimate of last week i want to talk about that just a bit before i talk about the funding of the accounts in this legislation that are so important to fighting terrorism that is providing security for our ports and security an aviation a law enforcement  border protection and so on last week the national intelligence estimate was provided to us both in a classified an unclassified version here's what it qaida is and will remain the most serious terrorist threat to the homeland we access the group has protected because it has protected our regenerated key elements of its homeland attack capability including a safe haven in the pakistan federally administered tribal areas operational lieutenants and its top leadership let me say that again the national intelligence estimate says to the greatest threat the most serious terrorist threat to the homeland that means the most serious threat to the united states of america and to our homeland is an organization called al qaeda and that they have protected or regenerated key elements of their homeland attack capability including a safe haven in the pakistan federally administered tribal areas now that's a different subject which i spoke about and offered an ame on recently there ought not be one square inch of ground on this planet that should be saved for osama bin laden and the leadership of al qaida six years after nine eleven there ought not be one square inch on this entire planet earth that is a safe haven or a protected secure hideaway for the greatest or the most serious threat to our country this should not be a surprise to us the national intelligence estimate some weeks ago we've been reading the accounts this is from june twenty sixth jonathan landay the mcclatchy bureau while the u s presses its war against insurgents linked to al qaeda and iraq osama bin laden's group is recruiting regrouping and rebuilding in a new sanctuary along the border between afghanistan and pakistan senior u s military intelligence and law enforcement officials said the threat from the radical islamic enclave it was here a stand is more dangerous than that from iraq which president bush and his aides call the central front in the war on terrorism said some current and former u s officials and experts months or two prior to that senior leaders of al qaeda operating from pakistan over the past year have set up a band of training camps in tribal regions near the afghan border according to american intelligence and counterterrorism officials american officials said there was a mounting evidence that osama bin laden and his deputy al zawahiri had been steadily building an operations hub in the mountainous pakistani tribal area of north w mr president means that if the most serious threat to our country exists from a terrorist organization that has rebuilt and regenerated its capability to attack us in our homeland and that's what our national intelligence agency tells us it means that the homeland security is ever more important and the investments in that homeland security in the account such as port security aviation security border security are so unbelievably important that's why i called this bill urgent there's an urgency about passing this bill because of this serious threat this bill is the homeland security appropriations bill which will provide the kinds of protections that we need need for the threats of attacks against our homeland when i describe what the national intelligence estimate last week said was the most serious threat to our country that threat comes from those who will attempt to cross into our borders therefore this bill has border security that threat may come from those who might try to board airplanes yet that is addressed by the issue of aviation security that threat may come from someone nailing themselves into a container with food and telephones and heaters as we've heard happened before and shipped into a port in this country in the middle of a container ship with a weapon of mass destruction or some other device by which they can attack this country and that's why this legislation this appropriations subcommittee contains port security and that's madam president the point is very simple there's an urgency to this appropriation subcommittee bill that i think is beyond the importance of other bills why because we have been told in recent weeks that there's a gut feeling on the part of the person who heads our homeland security agency that that we may be attacked again we have been told by the national intelligence estimate that the al qaeda organization is regenerated itself and is the most serious threat to attack the homeland of the united states of america if that's the case and we have been warned and let me just describe again august two thousand and one the presidential daily briefing was headlined this bin laden determined to strike in the u s that's what the president received in august two thousand and one day the president what are you talking about i'm talking about the president a statesman off two thousand and one received this presidential daily briefing with this title bin ladin determined to strike in the us my point is that in july two thousand and seven nearly six years later july two thousand and seven the intelligence assessment from the us national national counterterrorism center says this qaeda better position to strike in the west nearly six years later those who attacked our country and murdered thousands of innocent americans we are told by those who provide the intelligence for this country that they are in a better position now to attack this country in its homeland that's why the that we're hearing again now i want the american people to hear what you have just what do you do describing one person one organization one philosophy at fall i'm saying there's something wrong with respect to what i think is a failure here that is a significant failure part of which i hope and believe can be remedied by the bill that's been put together by senator byrd senator cochran dealing with homeland security it's been almost six years since the terrorist attack this country on nine eleven two thousand and one after almost six years and two in two countries and well over a half a trillion dollars spent at home and abroad the deaths of thousands in our military and the wounding of tens of thousands in our military after all of that period of time we are told that there is a sanctuary a safe haven a safe harbor for the leaders of the greatest threat to this country the leaders of al qaeda my point is there ought not be anywhere say on the face of this planet if the greatest threat to our country exists in the leadership of this organization that is rebuilding now training camps and terrorist training camps then we have done something wrong we must as the senator from west virginia the senator of mississippi have suggested in this bill we must rebuild our capabilities to defend ourselves against an attack on our homeland but even as we do that we must we dedicate ourselves as a country to say the first and most important job the first and most important the effort is to go after and eliminate the terrorist threat when it gets back to the debate we've had to respect other people's views on this but we are going door to door in baghdad with our soldiers in the middle of sectarian violence or civil war when in fact the greatest threat to our country is in the hills somewhere between afghanistan and pakistan building training camps and having the greatest capacity to attack our homeland because they regenerated their strength and in my judgment that is a failure so we have to rededicate ourselves on two points number one i believe we have to find a way to extract from the civil war in iraq yes we need to continue to do certain things or force protection for our forces training the iraqi security and iraqi police and iraqi soldiers for wrecked security and also taking on the areas in iraq where al  exist but what is principally happening in iraq is not about al qaeda and terrorism what is pretty skinny principally happening in iraq is about sectarian violence in the civil war my point is we ought to see if we can't make sure that we change policy and policies in this country and begin to start fighting terrorists first that ought to be the priority if the terrorists al qaeda osama bin ladin their leadership represent the greatest threat to this country then why is that the process by which we fight terrorists first instead we're bogged down going door to door in baghdad well here's what we have we have a piece of legislation on the floor of the united states senate now that deals with homeland security we want homeland security we want to succeed we want to be safe and secure to waste do that one is to do what we have done and try to strengthen our ports strengthen strengthen our borders and the legislation that has been brought to us today does all of that and more this has money for mass transit security well that's critically important we know the danger and the potential danger to our subway systems we've seen that in london with terrorist attacks port security we've had discussions on the for the senate to go on and on and on but we have these container ships that come into our ports with giant containers we're going to spend i think in the appropriations bill on defense we're going to spend ten eleven billion dollars to try to provide an electronic catcher's mitt for intercontinental ballistic missiles armed with nuclear warheads so we can create and create a catcher's mitt of some type or hit a bullet with a bullet when an i c b m is coming in with a nuclear warhead we're going to spend ten eleven billion dollars to try to solve that problem the more likely attack with a nuclear weapon is a ship a container ship pulling up to a port at three or four miles an hour pulling up the docks at one of america's major cities with a container right smack dab in the middle of the ship containing a weapon of mass destruction that's the most likely threat against this country and we're not spending ten or eleven billion dollars deal with that went to a seaport once in fact i went to the seaport in seattle washington because i don't know much about seaports i come from a state that doesn't this isn't bounded by water so i wanted to see what was security like at the seaport one of the things i remember from that visit was they had opened a container they don't open very many i believe we have something like eleven million containers come into this country on container ships eleven million containers i believe it's somewhere around three to five percent are inspected and ninety seven or so ninety seven ninety five percent are not inspected they open container and it was had been a refrigerated container and i was kind of curious so they looked at the back of it and there was one hundred pound bags of broccoli from poland and i said well know this is a giant container full of frozen broccoli from poland i can see that because you open the door in the back and you cut open a couple of bags i said what's in the middle of this container i see what's in the back what's deep in the middle of this container well we don't know that with so much pros and broccoli we just pulled some bags off to make sure there was broccoli in this container but the fact is they didn't check that couldn't check it and so millions of containers come in and are not checked now we've got what amounts to kind of a cat scan device for big trucks and containers and very expensive but it's kind of like a cat scan for your body you run it past a container you can see right through the container and see what's in it very expensive very difficult to get down on the level million containers same is true with the airport cargo i mean we have a perfectly in task to protect this country against those who are willing perfectly willing to kill themselves as long as they can to kill many other innocent people  very difficult proposition and so again we put together here in the appropriations committee and i say to the chairman and ranking member on the subcommittee i think they've done a terrific job i deeply appreciate their work i with my colleague senator murray from washington's comments about it with respect to border protection and the coast guard and in all of those issues that they've had to deal with with without unlimited money there's you know the fact is we have some limited funding  here mr president the chairman of the subcommittee is the honorable senator byrd from west virginia and the ranking member of course senator cochran from mississippi and at a time let me just say to both of them if they don't mind my saying it at a time when there's all this discussion in the newspapers about nobody gets along well you know all things of have deterred aerated here in the senate the fact is i think the evidence exists all across this senate chamber and it exist certainly with the senator from west virginia senator byrd senator cochran that they not only get along they work together so they put together terrific piece of legislation that's called cooperation there's a lot of it in this chamber particular on the appropriations committee which it makes me proud because i think that's the way the senate ought to work now if you will permit me however if if if the senator from west virginia and senator of mississippi will accommodate me for one additional moment while i say wonderful things about their work i do want to make a cautionary comment about fema because we're funding fema to the tune of six point nine billion dollars in this legislation the big fan of fema used to be a big fan of fame i should say not anymore i hope and pray that maybe it gets its act together doesn't appear to me it's quite there yet but in my state we evacuated ten years ago an entire city the largest mass evacuation since the civil war when grand forks was flooded and had a fire in the middle the flood in a city of nearly fifty thousand people was evacuated because of the floods in the red river valley we had fema show up unbelievable james lee witt and fema they knew what they were doing they were outstanding everybody believed that they helped that community come back together and and fight that flood and deal with the consequences and come roaring back ten years later that's a great success story fema regrettably has in my judgment been part of the problem rather than part of the solution we have natural disasters that occur in this country hurricane country in a comes to mind a fema obviously was a disgrace with respect at least many and fema were disgraceful in the way they responded to that i want to tell the chairman the ranking member of one example that i discovered  of many many examples and i want to tell you about it because as we fund for human we must we don't have a choice when that's when disaster strikes we've got to have the funding to go to those folks whether it's a hurricane or a flood or a drought we've got to go to those folks  say you're not alone this country is with you it's country wants to help but i want to tell you a story about what happened seem as i conclude i was on the phone one day to a guy named paul malveaux paul malveaux had a refrigerated truck in florida and he was one of those truckers that responded when fema wanted to send ice down to the victims in the gulf at when katrina hit and he had the evacuations the dislocations and all of that trouble they needed right was a trucker with a refrigerated truck so he contracted with thema as did thousands of others and he went to new york he was told go to new york to pick up ice and so he went to new york to pick up some ice and he was told take  when he got to missouri he was told to take the mississippi when he got to mississippi he sat there on the tarmac of a used an old military installation along with the over one hundred other truckers and there's a picture of and this is actually this is actually paul's room right here in new york to missouri to alabama actually and then here's a picture of paul he sat at a military installation in front of his truck for about twelve days and then he was told i want you to take the ice back to massachusetts so i destined for the victims of katrina were picked it was picked up in new york taken to missouri and then to this case arkansas was the alabama and then it was offloaded in massachusetts and the reason i tell you that story right now is because that story just ended last week that ice and by the way it cost fifteen thousand dollars for the taxpayer to pay paul melville to pick up new york ice to take the victims of katrina to go to missouri to alabama and finally be told after sitting there for twelve days to go drive it to massachusetts to offload it that ice  now been stored for two years and just this week was discarded by fema because they felt maybe after two years the ice was contaminated so the taxpayers took a bath and just the storage of that ice was around twenty million dollars the taxpayer taxpayers took a bath the victims never got the ice they needed and people like paul malveaux this this guy here said after driving his truck all that distance he said i got paid but this was wrong for the american taxpayer somebody ought to answer for it i spent two years trying to figure out who gave the orders on ice transport in fema and you by god can't find the answer you cannot find the answer i know that many of the top people in fema were cronies had nothing to do or no experience at all with dealing with with disasters and emergency preparedness nothing did nothing about it and so the result was a complete breakdown and this is just one example of it and i in some ways the regret taking the time to during during this debate but when else because we're going to give way to give team a six point nine billion dollars and i want team a to work i want to be proud of thema i don't want political cronies running i don't want someone like paul  hauls ice for victims to scratch his head and say what on earth has happened where has common sense gone how is it i'm told to pick up ice in new york and discover to massachusetts one is supposed to be helping victims in mississippi and louisiana what on earth are they thinking about so as we fund sima i hope that we will also do a lot of oversight in the authorizing committees because there's something fundamentally wrong we all know that and we need to fix it so having said all that and requisite compliments of everyone on the floor but compliments that i sincerely mean in this case about a bill that i believe is urgent for this country let me say that i hope we can move ahead if there are many ments to this bill i hope that people will come and offer amendments that allow us to vote on the members we won't have to lay it in the next couple of days we will demonstrate this first of appropriations bills that we can pass appropriations bills we can do that because we will cooperate to get them done and if we come to the floor couple days and see delay on homeland security i'm going to be one disappointed person because of all the bills that we ought to be saying let's lock arms and figure out how to do this and do this in reasonable time let's do this with the leadership of senator byrd and sen ment from my home state of louisiana because it would be not the whole solution but a significant part of the solution to a real problem even a crisis we have with our recovery from hurricanes rita and katrina and president this congress and in fact the american people have been enormously generous in terms of responding to the devastation of those storms and one of the best examples of that generosity unprecedented generosity is the billions of dollars the american taxpayer through congress has sent to the devastated areas to help people who were wiped out and who had enormous uninsured losses at the time out of president there was a big debate well shouldn't these folks have had more insurance shouldn't they have done this or that i think congress and the american people got it right recognizing that this event was unprecedented and recognizing in the case of louisiana that most of the losses we're talking about were caused by the actual failures of federal l they weren't overtopped they were broke they broke from underneath they were inadequately engineered and that caused devastating losses to folks or out the greater new orleans area in particular and so the american people responded generously and congress responded generously in the case of louisiana most of that money went into what was called the road home program to help compensate folks for enormous uninsured losses up to one hundred fifty thousand dollars per household that's the good news and it was unprecedented generosity and again we say thank you for that the bad news is that months later it was determined that that money appropriated would not be enough and in fact that road home program was running short because even more claims were coming in and had been anticipated and calculated and so there is a shortfall in that program which is at the very heart at the very center of our ongoing struggle to recover mind then that will not fix all of that shortfall but it would fix a big big part of it it would be a big piece of the puzzle a big part of the solution without costing the federal taxpayer any more money at all what is mind numbing do well man a president there's something called the hazard mitigation program that is always involved when there are natural disasters and because of the scope and size of the devastation of hurricanes rita and katrina in our case following those storms that hazard mitigation program would send one point two billion dollars to louisiana and we would like to use that money in the context of the road home program to help meet that shortfall to help bridge the gap to help fully fund that program however there are some technical requirements under normal as are mitigation rules that prevent us from doing that mind them would simply waive those few technical requirements so that the hazard mitigation money one point two billion dollars in this case could be used in the context of the road home program to help bridge that gap to help make people whole now i think it's very important and very accurate that i underscore that these requirements really are technical there are things that are normal requirements of hazard mitigation but nothing i'm waving in this amendment would go to the heart of the house or mitigation purpose of the program congress and setting up this program in general wanted to make sure the funds would be used to mitigate hazard to make sure the same sort of losses don't happen again to build higher better stronger smarter and nothing in mind then gets away from that fundamental focus and that fundamental intent and i think that's very very important because i don't want to get away from that mandate and neither does do most people here in the house or the senate so again in closing man a president i would underscore that this amendment would help fund our road home shortfall would not cost the federal taxpayer any more money would preserve and honor the intent of the housing mitigation program by making sure the funds went to a true hazard mitigation rebuilding higher and better and stronger and smarter not simply allowing people to rebuild anyway they could build before what it would do is wave certain technical requirements to make all of this work and i think that is very appropriate given the unprecedented scope and size and nature of the disasters we're talking about when a president urges all of my colleagues to look hard at this and them and to then support it because this funding shortfall within the road home program is a real impediment our ongoing challenge and scruggs will to recover and this amendment would be a major piece of the puzzle solving that problem without costing the federal taxpayer any more money and without throwing out the window the very significant and smart focus of the hazard mitigation program that would make us bills smarter and stronger and higher but still help get people back make them whole rebuilding through the road home program without man a president i yield back one time under the previous order the senate will now observe a moment of silence in memory to detective john gibson and officer jacob chestnut who lost their lives on july twenty fourth one thousand nine hundred eighty eight protecting the men and women who visited and work in this consent of the two managers is will be something with the republican leader who has worked on for many years and that's the burma sanctions legislation and that'll take about an hour i'll take us to five o'clock or thereabouts we can get to it right away but in conferring with the two managers this is an important bill and we want to get this thing to conference so that the white house and the problems they have was that they can weigh in and try to work this out so we can send the president a bill so you know if we don't have amendments start coming in tonight or in the morning we'll move a third reading which is not really we have i've laid out and as much detail as i could  learning everybody to what we need to do this work created and as president i think i'm like most everyone we worked long and hard we had one work period here during the scherzer and was seven weeks long  we've we worked hard we work late nights we work a couple of weekends we work all night last week and then we have things we need to do at home in our state speaking for this senator schedule does august to make a tour of the place well i don't have the opportunity of their very much the rules changes we've made in the lack of air travel i have to drive and it's only way i can take a train there's no air travel so i will drive around there i'm looking forward to it the reason i mention that is we have a lot to do when we gone in august people have things to just like i do but i've told people we've got to finish homeland security appropriations bill we've got of complete s chip which is a bipartisan bill that was reported out of that committee seventeen to four out of the finance committee two big cheerleaders we have that legislation are baucus and grassley we need to finish that a conference  friday but if we have a lot of delays we can't do that but everyone i've said it another time we're going to finish the stuff before we leave and if there's a do weeks and weeks ago and so i would hope that we can have some cooperation here we need to get appropriation bills done i had a conversation with josh bolton today the present chief of staff we're trying to figure out some way that we can work together on this and i hope we can one way we can start is finish this bill and i am wondering i didn't mention i don't want to take a vote but the monday the tuesday we are back here after the break no discussion on it at all now we know it so it has more jurisdiction and had not passed i chaired that committee and not a construction for a while i was it was really a good experience and when you you understand what i know that i can't control unusual amendments on my side and i know that i wish the former chairman ranking member of this committee can't side by side on this and been sort of feinstein she's worked on this very very much and so again this is something we can bring here it's bipartisan but i apologize for not mentioning her name because she's worked on this very very long and hard herself want to send her from virginia complete a statement i asked the senator from virginia you would rather complete your statement now you're here ready to go is that right let's correct so i asked consent when he can read your statement whatever that might be in the next t object i was unclear if the majority leader was trying to get the senator from virginia up right now i have a very brief statement related to the to the bill that we're proceeding to what i would what i would suggest madam president is that i'm sure my friend from virginia would have no objection that this senator from kentucky the republican leader then we would go back to morning business briefly for a statement from senator webb and then return for the the rest of the hour of debate on the resolution that we are currently considering and i would ask the clerk to report to resolution long suffering people of burma and against israel regime just last month the international committee of the red cross condemned the actions of the burmese regime a rare vocal stance for an organization that is historically work to bring about reforms are not fooling the red cross and they should not be fooling anyone else the s p d say recently resumed its so called constitutional convention a convention in which most delegates were selected by the regime itself and in which delegates are not allowed to offer a draft changes without permission criticism of the draft constitution is prohibited by law one notable provision in the draft forbid the spouse of a foreign national from sitting in parliament  addition clearly aimed at national league for democracy leader and nobel peace prize winner aung sang suu kyi who is british husband died in one thousand nine hundred ninety nine the s p d see calls a convention a roadmap to democracy but only a species map the destination is not freedom it's tyranny until the end all day and burma's ethnic minorities are fully included in the governing process until this process reflects true democratic principles th convention should be shunned shunned by the international community a sham constitutional process is a step backward not forward that said there are some encouraging signs international pressure represented a partner from traditional practices clearly there is a growing international impatience with the vermes regime i'm proud to say that the united states has long been at the vanguard of the movement to democratize burma others like asciano are following our lead they are beginning to recognize the moral imperative to help the people of this beleaguered nation i'm also proud of the continued unified stance but taken by the u s senate over the years with respect to burma on monday the senate finance committee voted out this bill unanimously that legislation has sixty co sponsors and once again enjoys broad bipartisan support i am pleased to be joined again by my good friend and co sponsor the senior senator from california senator feinstein out also like to thank ridge harper of her staff for all the hard work he has put forward to make this legislation possible on the republican side my good friend senator mccain continues to use his respected voice to support the vermes people it's time for the senate once again to go on record and show that we stand with the people of burma as we do we can be confident of their gratitude in a recent book on the plight of the people by the author emma larkin burma's man urges outside nations to keep the pressure on change has to come from outside he says the world must pension barmah harder any money to these generals and it's like watching a poisonous plant grow let's show that we stand for freedom and against oppression for real democratic progress and against hollow promises of reform against the poisonous plant the ten months without objection thank you madam president i would like to address two issues this afternoon before i do i'd like to say to the republican leader that i will gladly support his bill i spent time in burma i've appropriate i would like first of all to speak on behalf of an amendment that i was very proud to co sponsor along with senator warner the senior senator from virginia that was passed by unanimous vote while i was out outside of the senate be before we came into full session last night on the votes it was passed in the in the noon hour and like to thank senator warner for his leadership on this bill and express my appreciation at the senate passed at this amendment called the minority serving institutions digital in wireless technology opportunity amendment it will help close what is clearly a digital divide at minority institutions in the country this was bipartisan as i point out and it's directed toward ensuring that we're addressing the current needs that exist in our colleges and universities by giving our students an opportunity to compete with anyone anywhere around the world over sixty percent of jobs require information technology skills these days and many in the information technology field placing effectively higher in terms of salaries and those sorts of things and it's vital to our global competitiveness that all institutions of higher education provide their students with access to the most current information technology and equipment i commend our leadership in the help committee for making these sorts of issues  priority on the bill that we voted out last night and for ensuring that our students have the tools necessary to succeed and compete in our changing economy this particular amendment what establish a new grant program to be administered by the secretary of education to assist historically black colleges and universities hispanic serving institutions and tribal colleges these grants have a period of time in which they have to be used that has a sunset provision after three years for them to be reexamined and i believe that they're highly appropriate in terms of helping these minority institutions reach a level playing field virginia is home to six historically black colleges and universities  norfolk state university st paul's college virginia university hampton university virginia university at lynchburg virginia state universities these are examples of some of the universities that would be helped by this amendment investing in our minority serving institutions will give our students an opportunity to compete far more effectively in our global economy this amendment addresses the inequality of access to technology that exists in many cases because of technical an economic restraints and i'm looking forward to working closely with the appropriators to ensure that we get the necessary funds to be provided to this critical program and i again thank my colleagues and particularly the esteem senior senator from virginia senator warner for helping to make passage of this important amendment possible the second issue i would like to address today relates to a request that senator clinton my colleague from new york made to the secretary of defense back in may asking the appropriate oversight committees in the congress particularly the armed services committee on which i serve as the presiding officer with briefings regarding what current contingency plans might exist in the department of defense if we do in fact begin a withdrawal of our forces from iraq the  respond to the senator of new york directly instead the undersecretary of defense for policy eric edelman wrote her a letter with which she took great umbrage last weekend the united states will abandon its allies in iraq much as we are perceived to have done in vietnam lebanon and somalia he then said at the end of his letter it's a longstanding departmental policy department offense that operational plans including contingency plans are not released outside of the department i have great concerns about this letter having spent five years working in the pentagon and knowing that these sorts of letters require coordination among the highest offices inside the pentagon and i would ask that the secretary defense clarify that a position of the department of defense on the matters that  his undersecretary addressed is this the policy of the department of defense gosh an of the withdrawal of forces reinforces enemy propaganda and that we might be a allies as we are perceived to have done in lebanon and somalia first thing i would ask is what allies did we abandoned in lebanon and somalia we went into lebanon i was there as a journalist we went into lebanon as a part of the united nations peace keeping force in order to separate warring factions we were there purely on a mission of peace we were not there to side with one faction or another in somalia was basically gang warfare we all know that now this is the kind of rhetoric that in my opinion was designed purely for the purposes of attacking senator clinton rather than addressing the issues that we need to be looking at and i think there's probably no greater testimony than to just go back to the bill that senator warner and senator lugar had offered on the amendment the defense authorization bill which was just pulled because this amendment which was put together by after careful thought by the former chairman of the armed services committee and the former chairman of the foreign relations committee to the esteem leaders of the republican party asked for the same thing in fact it called for the same thing senator warner and senator lugar were stating in this amendment that the president should require  among other things a report to be presented to the congress no later than october sixteenth twenty zero seven which specifically addressed the same issues that senator clinton had asked to be addressed in her letter  showing what what the plans might be and when they might be executable in the event that we decide to withdraw our forces from iraq and also i think it's a legitimate question  for people in the united states congress to be asking when you look back at the way we ended up going into iraq i was not a member of this body but i watched it like so many americans did on television as this body and the  representatives had administration officials testifying they would ask in the run up to this war how long we going to be in iraq and the answer was a litany it was as long as is necessary and not one day more  and for undersecretary edelman to in any way indicate that it's the policy of this administration that they don't have to share the thought that they are putting into  these options is totally out of line and for that reason i joined with senator clinton senator by and senator byrd in a letter to the chairman of the armed services committee specifically asking that we have hearings in the armed services committee that will address these issues and if the administration wants to go into closed hearings that's fine but i'm asking today number one that the  security fence clarify for us what his beliefs are with respect to the rhetoric that came out of a letter that took two months to be generated from his department in response to what senator clinton asked for and then secondly and iraq and appropriately so yet the time spent dealing with failed policy in iraq is a stark reminder of how it also distracts us from so many other critics all issues around the world one issue in particular is the four year humanitarian tragedy in the darfur region of sudan sadly in front of the global community zions we witnessed on speakable horror mass killings rape torture torching of homes and entire villages estimates of death are wide ranging from two hundred thousand to four hundred thousand some two and a half million people have been displaced from their homes and there's a mounting refugee crisis in neighboring chad in the central african republic despite a worldwide call for action the tragedy just continues madam president the genocide in sudan is becoming increasingly complicated and tragic the violence threatens to destabilize an entire region and without change there's little end in sight today we have an up important opportunity to break the cycle of violence an opportunity that we must seize after years of d city installing sudanese president bashir agreed last month to a significantly expanded joint united nations african union peacekeeping force we have to seize an opportunity in seize it quickly unfortunately the many disturbing signs that this window may be closing yesterday the washington post covered a visit by president by sure to the dar for section of his country president bashir said the people there are work quote living normal lives close quote that only nine thousand people had died and that quote most of dar for is not secure and enjoying real peace in the quote he rejected foreign intervention in the conflict madam president this crisis has gone on long enough over two years ago president bush declared a genocide in darfur secretary of state colin powell joined in that chorus secretary of state congolese rice also agreed and the president said not on my watch remembering the horror of rwanda were eight hundred thousand people died in the genocide during the clinton administration president clinton did not respond at that time and has regretted it ever since and said so publicly president bush said the same thing would not happen in his administration i have reminded the president now several times on the floor of the senate and personally his administration coming to an end if he's going to do anything about the crisis  genocide and are for the needs to move and move quickly and a president that need a simple rapid deployment of a full peacekeeping force we've seen this type of urgency with other peacekeeping forces including last year in lebanon and we must act with similar speed for the people the victims suffering and or for last week u n secretary general ban ki moon and i had a good conversation he returned my call on the telephone we spoke for a few minutes and we talked about the importance of rapidly deploying a new peacekeeping force and of working toward a long term political settlement in this region it's my hope that our united states ambassador to the united nations so i'll make  secretary general ban ki moon to make these steps a reality the un security for council will be meeting soon to authorize this force the security council should be firm in its mandate and its timeline the needs are clear the force must have sufficient resources and numbers we can help the united states has resources set aside for peacekeeping efforts in the world and i can't think of many more pressing than the genocide in darfur or if we are not providing soldiers we certainly need to provide resources it must have a strong chapter seven mandate for protecting civilians peacekeepers and humanitarian workers some of these non governmental organization humanitarian workers have been the victims of the violence in darfur men and women who are risking their lives by the basic necessities of life have been targets themselves the johns weed militia and all the violence taking place there this peacekeeping force must have a clear u n command and control structure and a firm timetable for deployment it should be clear that day to day operational instructions come from the united nations the u n mandate must set benchmarks and hold the sudanese government accountable for failure to cooperate in particularly there should be no room for further stalling or reinterpretation by the sudanese government we have been blindsided too many times by president bashir of sudan who has said so many times there is no problem and are for you can bring in a force no i've changed my mind as this man has we've back and forth more and more innocent people have died and been displaced from their homes we must match this peacekeeping force with a renewed diplomatic effort to bring about a long term political settlement including naming a special representative of the secretary general to monitor implementation of a comprehensive peace agreement and the force must be deployed immediately the notion that are going to do this months from now is unacceptable finally we need a long term political settlement to match the peacekeeping effort i call in the united states the united nations the african union to continue intense and gauge met with all parties i also strongly urge all parties including those representing non signatory dar for rebel movements to participate fully in the un african union led negotiations and to cooperate in the effort to bring about a political solution that will return peace and stability to the people of dar for those who to choose not to participate leave themselves open to further international isolation and sanctions and a president each day would delay a peacekeeping and political elman efforts leads to more death more rape more human suffering more people displaced from their homes more desperate refugees each day we delay the crisis becomes more complex with increased violence and refugees spilling over into neighboring countries creating burdens and instabilities their each day we delay gives president bashir another opportunity to stall and back away from his commitment each day we delay is a further indictment of the global community's failure to act decisively in the face of genocide we must not wait another day and let us not forget the major export of sudan is all the major company in sudan that is drilling the oil and  a company controlled by the chinese government the chinese need to be involved in this as well first that the united nations and then beyond a few weeks ago after an article appeared in the wall street journal written by mia farrow the actress the chinese finally responded and made some overtures toward the bashir government saying that they had to act we haven't heard anything since it's time for the chinese to step up if they want to be part of this global community they should stand on the side of civilized conduct they should condemn the genocide and are for and do more in closing than a president i want to thank president bush secretary general bon and u n ambassador khalilzad i want them to know there's strong support in the congress for swift action to field this peacekeeping force many of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle spoken out for years on the need to do more to halt the genocide and are for we will and we must continue to focus this concern on doing everything we halt this genocide i hope that we take an active voice and role in this debate here in the united states senate yes we can do many things here our legislative business but not ignoring the rest of the world we hold i hope that in the next two weeks we can take action on the floor here to adopt resolutions and to make it clear on a bipartisan basis that we want the united nations peacekeeping force to act and act quickly in response we should also be working with the ambassadors from countries that are represented in the african union as well as those on the security council to reassure them that the united states wants with action and we need to make sure that are appropriate and bills reflect the need for resources to make this a success as the president said more than two years ago not on my watch and we in the congress we in the united states senate should say the same and we should follow that statement with action thank you madam president  from california thank you madam president i'd like to compliment the distinguished senator from illinois in his remarks not only were they heartfelt but they were certainly cogent and certainly correct so my warmest congratulations to you senator i came to the floor today to speak to the passage of the joint resolution renewing the import sanctions on burma for another year this legislation has been introduced for several years now by mcconnell and myself i began with senator bill cohen a long time ago when he was in this body yesterday the house passed the joint resolution by voice vote and the senate finance committee reported the mcconnell feinstein bill to the senate floor on a unanimous bipartisan basis so i urge my colleagues to pass this resolution these sanctions are set to expire in two days but  twenty sixth and any delay will only serve to benefit the ruling military junta in myanmar or burma the state peace and development council is its name and it does this at the expense of nobel peace prize laureate and leader of the national league for democracy on sun su chief and the democratic opposition in burma i remind my colleagues that the league for democracy headed by hundred eighty nine she was elected to be president of burma at that time these sanctions will be renewed for one year at a time so we will have a chance to discuss them in a year if the military junta should decide to make some reforms but simply put the hunted to date has failed to take any meaningful steps to release suchi and other political prisoners there are literally thousands of political prisoners and dozens of her political party elected to the parliament remain in prison last month we celebrated the sixty second birthday  she spent her day as she has for most of her past seventeen years alone and under house arrest seventeen long years alone in a house in burma with no communication with the outside in may the state peace and development council renewed her sentence for yet another year i'm heartened to know that united states senate and the international community are coming together to ensure that the abuses and injustices of the military junta in burma do not go unnoticed earlier this year forty five united states senators signed a letter to united nations secretary ban ki moon urging him to get personally involved in pressing for sue cheese release in a recent letter addressed to the state peace and development council a distinct each group of fifty nine heads of state scuse me former heads of state including former filipino president chorus on aquino former czech president vaclav havel former british prime minister john major and former president bill clinton jimmy carter and george h w bush called for the regime to release on sun suchi they correctly noted that is not calling for revolution in burma but rather peaceful nonviolent dialogue between the military the national league for democracy and burma as ethnic groups what kind of threat can that be to a government that calls for sue cheese release are also coming from burma's neighbors the association of southwest asian nations known as us yon now recognizes th burma's actions are not an internal matter but a significant threat to peace and stability in the region at a meeting of senior diplomats last month ossie on made a clear call cheese relate release that call is so welcome and i'd like to encourage us and to continue to speak out last month the women of the united states senate you are one madam president came together to form the women's caucus on burma to express our solidarity with suchi to call for her immediate release and urge the united nations to pass a binding resolution on burma well we did not do this in vain the united nations did pass a resolution but unfortunately it was vetoed by china and russia and our inaugural event we were pleased to be and by first lady laura bush who added her own voice to those calling for peace and democracy in burma so our message is spreading and it is clear and we will not remain silent we will not stand still until aung san suu kyi and all political prisoners are released and democratic government is restored in burma let us not forget that this human situation compels us to action consider this there are still thirteen hundred thats one thousand three hundred political prisoners in jail according to the un special rapport are over three thousand villages have been destroyed by the military junta seventy thousand child soldiers have been forcibly recruited and over a half a million people are internally displaced in burma today and over one million people have fled burma in the past two decades destabilizing burma's neighbors the practice of rape as a form of repression has been sanctioned by the burmese military use of forced labor is widespread human trafficking is rampant burma is the world's second largest opium producer after afghanistan and increasingly a source of trafficking of synthetic narcotics now sanctions are not a panacea for every problem and in many cases they don't work but in this instance we still hope they can be effective suchi herself has said this and i quote we would like the world to know that economic sanctions do not hurt the common people of burma we would like to your paean to munity the united states and the rest of the world to be aware that sanctions do help the movement for democracy in burma members of this this is a very fire i thank you i would ask for ten seconds members out of jackson thank you members of this body this is an amazing woman a nobel prize winner in house arrest for seventeen months because she was democratically elected as president of burma we should speak out this resolution is one way of doing just that i urge its passage i thank the chair i yield the floor under the previous order the clerk will read the joint resolution for the third time it's a day of rest forty four approving the next import restrictions contained in the burmese brain and democracy act of two thousand and three and for other purposes question is this is mary  so i mr brown  steve and mr stevens are i mr martinez i mr white house i mr pryor i this is mccaskill on during are there any senators in the chamber who have not voted or who wish to change their about if not on  h j resolution forty four the i's are ninety three the nays are one and the joint resolution is passed yet the senate will be in order so that the senator from washington can be heard form call be lifted without objection this present the senate currently considering the homeland security appropriations bill and earlier the senator from louisiana offered him at number twenty three eighty four i'm concerned that the amendment being offered to an appropriations the bill that amendment is clearly proper i think on an appropriations bill and notwithstanding any other provision  light my understanding is that homeland security and government affairs committee object that amendment therefore i raise the point of order and the point of order is the stand and the amendment falls thank you mr president dispensed with without objection to present us amendments aimed at providing needed assistance to law enforcement agencies to address the problem of criminal activity along our nation's borders senate's two thousand and seven homeland security appropriation bill the amendment establishes a competitive grant program within the department of homeland security to help local law enforcement that is situated along our borders to cover some of the costs that they incur as a result of having to deal with illegal immigration with drug trafficking with stolen vehicles and with other border related crimes that authorizes fifty million dollars a year to enable law enforcement within one hundred miles of the border to hire additional personnel in obtaining the equipment and cover the overtime and transportation costs that they incur in these activities law enforcement outside the this geographic limit that's provided for in the amendment would be eligible if the secretary of homeland security certified that they were located in a quote high impact area and i was states shares fifty five hundred twenty five miles of border with canada and one thousand nine hundred eighty nine miles of border enforcement agencies that are located along these borders are small rural departments that are charged with patrolling large areas of land with very few off and very limited resources according to a two thousand and one study of the us mexico border counties coalition criminal and criminal justice costs associated with illegal immigration exceeded eighty nine million dollars each year counties along the southwest border are some of the poorest in the country and are not in a good position to cover these additional costs for far too long local law enforcement agencies operating along our borders have had to incur significance costs due to the inability of the federal government to secure our nation's borders it's time that the federal government recognized border communities should not have to bear this burden alone and for that reason i would urge my colleagues to support this  amendment as president i'm informed that this amendment has been per cleared by both both sides and i would think we're ready to go to a vote on it unless the managers would like additional debate as senator from mississippi mr president we have reviewed this amendment it is as the senator from new mexico say ed matter that's been before the body before and has been previously approved we have no objection to proceeding a and the work this afternoon that's good for getting the feel of this legislation so i can't well has an amendment she will offer at the proper time to see if maybe it can be worked out with them manages the bill and i can't we certainly are not going to be able to debate it all tonight and the wondered where legislation that we're close to having the ability to work something out on that if we decide to work on a finish that tonight which is certainly appropriate and will be done by unanimous consent won't require roll call vote at least we won't require one tonight so i think with the number of balls being up in the air and waiting for other senators coming after amendments we will have no moral call votes tonight i would suggest though that senator should understand that tomorrow is wednesday and we really do need to finish th i would hope that centers that have the members to offer to come and do that i checked with the managers of the bill as a spoken personally with senator cochran that tomorrow if we are in a period where there's simply no members being offered we would just move to third reading if people want to improve this bill in any way that they feel appropriate way to do it is offering them and i've said earlier today i say again today i don't want to file cloture this bill if i think this would set a pattern for how we need to work on appropriation bills let's get this one done in regular order we know that i'm fact i've said earlier today i'll say again i've spoken to the present chief of staff today about appropriation bills generally my feeling is that we will be happy just now and talk to other presidents people about an overall program to get these goals passed in the meantime listen to one at a time because as we know the power of the white house whether it's a democratic or republican president comes when we have a conference anyway so again i hope that we can work with regular order to get this passed i would whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa without objection those present where we haven't been able to clear their want were legislation and it's my understanding that the minorities looking at that again tonight and hopefully we can get it done tomorrow and i come in in the morning i'm going to mine the senate convenes i'm going to ask consent again to pass that is one of the opportunities we have to really do something for the troops the defense authorization bill the other stuff and it doesn't become a fact of until the end of the fiscal year october first i should say the beginning of his career on this word where it becomes effective upon passage and approval so would really be good if we can do that amazing what they can do just short period time i went over my list of things that i wanted to complete for the senate this next couple weeks so progress where we're working on now as ch conference report on ethics and then the one on nine eleven she had a two pages of things they were going to do next couple weeks we can do that here and she can  discharged for their consideration of h r two four two nine senate then proceed to its consideration the clerk will report h r twenty four twenty nine an actor man title eighteen under so security act and so forth resolution expressing appreciation for the profound public service an education contributions of donald jeffrey herbert founder polly known as mr wizard this present i ask consent that the senate now proceed to consideration as congress forty two the clerk will report as congress forty two recognizing the need to pursue research into the causes of treatment and eventual care cure for all computer break down here and we should be able to close momentarily mindedness senate resume consideration the chart twenty six thirty eight is present i turned to my distinguished colleague the republican leader and ask if he has any statements mr president i have spoke to josh bolton earlier thing about appropriation bills and of course that we had great if we could have an overall scheme as to how we're going to do them in the meantime to get that done i think we should proceed through these bills one a time and recognize that the power of the white house whether it's a democratic president or a republican president in this appropriation process comes during the conferences anyway so the house they can move things very quickly and so all these are ready to go to conference and so i would hope that we can move through these individual pro creation bills and hopefully have some recognition of what we're going to try to accomplish in conference before we go to conference and work some of these out i say progress people just waiting around not offering any amendments so that's where we are i hope that we can finish this soon do what we need to do on s chip and do the nine eleven conference report which i understand is almost finished i mean bernie sell most one hundred percent of needs to be done ninety nine percent of that is done we've taken the language that the republicans don't want to specially the president dealing with the union situation even though it's a hard for us to swallow we took that out of the that will make it more palatable to my friends on the other side and we'll do we'll come back in september and and invigorated ready to do some other things for the country but regard to the appropriations bills us as a majority leader knows i've said both publicly and repeatedly to have a privately it's my preference to pass each of the appropriation bill signed and get them down to the president we have in recent history a malfunction on both sides last year when the majority was of my party we failed to pass eleven out of thirteen appropriation bills  two thousand and two when the democrats were the majority they did the same thing so example opportunity to point fingers at both sides for not completing the appropriation process as we should but i would