Date: 2007-06-13
Speaker: DANIEL E. LUNGREN (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Cali

fornia. Mr. Chairman. I move to strike the last word. Mr. Chairman. the gentleman who has just spoken has talked about dedication to homeland security by the members of the subcommittee and the full Appropriations Committee. and perhaps inadvertently suggested that others concern about that does not rise to the same level. I would suggest if that is what the gentleman meant that he is wrong. I think it is fair to say that all Members in this House were affected. both personally. professionally. and as Americans by the events of 9/1L I would suggest that while some of us may believe the sense of urgency is not maintained at all times with respect to the threat that faces us. there is in fact in much. if not everything we do. the sense of the background of the vicious attack on 9/11. The gentleman talked about the Appropriations Committee and the appropriations subcommittee. I happen to be a member of the authorizing committee. the Homeland Security Committee. I believe we have acted in a bipartisan way. But just to indicate a few differences between what is in this bill and what we have done in the past on a bipartisan basis or coming out of the Homeland Security Committee. the chemical protection regime that we established last year. after much discussion. after much debate and after much balancing is changed in this bill. The border fence. which has been the subject of much debate. much attention. I happen to support it and proudly support it. I do not believe it is the panacea. but it is part of the solution. Many in the American public have wondered whether we meant what we said when we passed the legislation that authorized and appropriated funds for the border fence. They must have many more questions today. because in this bill it makes it more difficult to complete that task. Some would suggest it makes it impossible. Now. I happen to be a lawyer. I plead guilty. But if I wanted to have lawsuits to stop the fence. I would say hallelujah when I looked at this version of the law that is contained in this bill that is presented to us. One of the gentlemen on the other side talked about detention facilities. I introduced the first piece of legislation that stopped the "catch and release" program followed by this administration and previous administrations dealing with OTMs. or "other than Mexicans." caught on our southern border. One of the reasons why they. were caught and released and told to come back in 60 or 90 days for their court appearance. and 94 percent of them never did. by the way. was because we didnt have sufficient detention facilities. So ICE has said in addition to those we own. we ought to see whether we can use privatized detention facilities. This bill makes it difficult. if not impossible. to do that. So please dont tell us on the floor that some on that side of the aisle are more concerned about homeland security than we are. This bill places restrictions on personnel management policies that have been adopted by the Homeland Security Department. recognizing the uniqueness of their mission. So please dont tell us that those on that side of the aisle are more concerned about homeland security than are we. Perhaps those on the other side of the aisle believe that the only way you show sincerity is by throwing m6re money at it. There is a difference. That is why the ranking member. the former chairman of this subcommittee. is going to offer an amendment to bring this back down to a level that can get passed. If you want a veto. as you did for 120 days with the question of supporting our troops. you can get it on this as well. The former chairman. the current ranking member of the subcommittee. is going to. offer an amendment that will make it more probable than not that this bill will be signed by the President. Yet. in an effort to show that you feel more on- this issue by throwing more money at it. you are going to subject us to the same political routine that we just went through with respect to funding our troops. 120 days lost. We have plenty of time to debate. this bill and other bills on the floor. All we have to do is make sure we stay here and debate it.