Date: 2006-05-03
Speaker: LORETTA SANCHEZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

to try and respond to a true challenge that we have before us. and that is the challenge of terrorists attempting to do harm to our country by going through our ports. The very nature of our ports. the very genius of our ports. which is the justintime delivery. the inventory that is basically carried on ships these days. instead of stationary in large buildings on land. the very easy transfer of them from ships to trucks to be able to get into the middle of our country within the shortest period of time. times that would have been unimaginable just years ago. that very ingenuity. that creativity. also creates the vulnerability. It is true that. following 9/11. we focused. not exclusively but more than any other area. on our aviation system. Now we have an opportunity to try and put a greater emphasis on security for our ports. I was gone from this place for 16 years. 9/11 was the event that compelled me to return. I grew up in the shadows of one of the great harbors of this country. Long Beach. I worked there one summer when I was in college. [] 1815 I have been able to see the tremendous growth and the change in the way our ports operate. I am proud of our ports. I would do nothing. I would do nothing to try and put them at risk. And I would say this base bill is a very good bill. When I hear some of the discussion about the rule. it reminds me of my prior service in the House when I served for 10 years as a minority Member. where we did not have a right to a motion to recommit. We were given an opportunity for a motion to recommit when the Rules Committee decided they would give it to us. Under the Republican rules of the House. a motion to recommit is given to the minority on every major bill. So those elements of concern that have been expressed by the minority side of substance of amendments that are not allowed under this bill we know can be put into a motion to recommit. Now. that does not mean I am going to support it. because I think good and sufficient arguments can be made against some of the amendments that wish to be presented here in the floor and in the substance of the motion to recommit. But I just hope in the discussion on this rule and the discussion on the underlying bill we do not lose that sense of bipartisanship that has really been a watchword of this attempt to provide us with the response to a true challenge in this country. The very vote that we had. 290 coming out of our committee. the fact that we have more than 80 cosponsors from both sides of the aisle. gives the very indication of the bipartisan nature of this bill. I get involved in partisan arguments from time to time. as you well know. But this institution does itself proud when it responds to the challenges that are out there facing our constituents. This committee. the Homeland Security Committee. has served this House well by its bipartisan approach under first our former chairman. Mr. Cox. and now our current chairman. Mr. KING. The Members on the Democratic side. have worked very hard I think to work with us in a bipartisan way. So I hope the tenor of the debate tonight does not mislead people who may be listening into thinking we are not doing the peoples business. We are doing the peoples business. I am proud of the work that we are doing here. This is a good bill. We will debate some additional amendments. We will have a motion to recommit. And whatever comes out of that. this will still be a good bill. Please support this rule and support this bill.