Date: 2006-09-14
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

Lets remember this picture. We have funded this relationship. We have made this relationship between the Prime Minister of Iraq and the President of Iran. we have made that happen. These were sworn enemies. During our formative years Mr. MEEK. Iraq and Iran were at war. bitter lockedhorns war. If you recall. it was the Sunnis led by Saddam Hussein in Iraq versus the Shiites in Iran. What has occurred is that we have done by our actions in Iraq what thousands of years could not accomplish. We -have basically upended the stability that existed there and brought the Shiites into control. and basically created a hotbed of chaos and terrorism that didnt exist before. Now. our colleagues on the other side of the aisle and President Bush would like very. much to lead the American people and the international community to believe that the war on terror actually exists in Iraq. But every international expert that has weighed in on this insists that that is not the case. that the chaos that exists there now was created and that the war on terror doesnt need to be fought in Iraq. The way we fight the war on terror is making sure that the homeland is secure. But we cant do that. because our priorities are in the wrong place and we are spending this kind of money in Iraq. I could stand here and make these claims all day long. but nobody would identify me as an expert on terrorism or on the conflict. the war in Iraq. I am a Member of Congress. elected to represent my constituents. So lets turn to the people that we did ask to identify the problems in the aftermath of 9/11 and the war on terror and the things we needed to do to protect our homeland. The bipartisan 9/11 Commission. which was chaired by former Governor Tom Kean of New Jersey. a very well respected Republican. and former Member of Congress Lee Hamilton. a very well respected former Member of -Congress. All the commissioners on there were chosen for their expertise. Let me just go through what they said on Monday. They wrote a public opinion piece. an oped that was published in the Boston Globe and I know many other papers. and what they said this: "As we mark the fifth anniversary of the terrorist attacks. Americans ask. are we safer? Two years ago the 9/11 Commission found that our government failed in its duty to protect us. The commission. which the two of us led. made 41 recommendations to ensure that this Nation does everything possible to protect its people. Many of our recommendations. including those to reorganize the intelligence community. were written into law. yet no law is selfexecuting. Implementation is often the harder step." And. boy do we know that. because it is the Congress job to implement. All the recommendations in the world can come down from experts. but if Congress doesnt pass a law. like you said. the schoolhouse rock explanation of it has to go through the legislative process. it has to pass the committees. it has to pass both houses in the same form and go up to the President and he has to sign it. that hasnt happened. What they said- is. "We issued a report card on our recommendations in December. It included 10 Cs. 12 Ds and 4 Fs. What we argued then is still true now. Americans are safer. but we are not yet safe." That was the one question that I got the most often on Monday. Mr. MEEK. was. "DEBBIE. are we safer?" I got asked that question by the press. I got asked that question by constituents. and the answer from the people that would know. the chairs of the 9/11 Commission. was we are safer. but we are not yet safe. Now. that is not a ringing endorsement ovei our efforts in the last 5 years. So they asked. what do we need to do. because that is what people want to know. "First. homeland security dollars must be allocated wisely. Right now those funds are spread around like revenue sharing projects." We had our friends on the other side of the aisle claim that they passed this remarkable earmark reform legislation today. which essentially only identifies a few individuals and ties them to the projects that they proposed. But basically what the 9/11 Commission is saying is that there are a bunch of little projects that Members have been able to insert into the process. but no regional or comprehensive approach to appropriating homeland security dollars so that you can get the really big. significant projects accomplished. like interoperability. "Until Congress passes a law to allocate funding on the basis of risks and vulnerabilities. scarce dollars will continue to be squandered." This is Tom Kean and Lee Hamiltons words. not ours. * "Second. States and localities need to have emergency response plans and practice them regularly. Hurricane Katrina taught us a lesson that we should have learned from September 11: From the moment disaster strikes. all first responders need to know what to do and who is in charge." And if the directions were coming down from the Department of Homeland Security and Secretary Chertoff and there was a plan in place and we had our priorities right. then they would know that. But there isnt. "Third. we called on Congress to give first responders a slice of the broadcast spectrum ideal for emergency communications." Again. the interpretability so they could communicate with each other. "Those frequencies.- which easily carry messages through concrete and steel. are now held by TV broadcasters and will not be turned over to first responders until 2009." What are we waiting for? They ask. "Why should public safety wait another 3 years?" "Fourth. progress on information sharing among government agencies is still lagging. Because of failures in this area. we missed many chances to disrupt the September 11 plot. The Federal Government is doing a better job. but there are still turf fights and gaps in information sharing. especially with State and local authorities."