Date: 2007-06-18
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the gentleman outlining what the President has been threatening to veto. I want to take it a step beyond the Homeland Security appropriations bill and outline a few of the other bills all related to homeland security that the President has also threatened to veto. Tonight what we aim to show. fact versus fiction. is basically who is for homeland security and who is just kidding. who is just talk. who is just a lot of hot air. versus who is supportive of putting forward substance. The only thing I can think of in terms of a reason that you have these veto threats and suddenly the President discovers ink in his pen. neverhaving threatened a veto in his first 6 years. instead of an "R" next to the idea there is a "D" next to the idea. Now this is from a person who has talked a really nice story about being bipartisan and working with the Democratic Congress. This is how he has been proposing to work with the Democratic Congress: proposing to veto the Homeland Security appropriations bill which has a lot of very important issues that went unaddressed by the Republican Congress. Also. threatening to veto the 9/11 Commission recommendations which was his own 9/11 Commission. We just passed that bill in our Six in 06 agenda with a vote of 299128. And that would fully implement the 9/11 Commission recommendations. The Homeland Security authorization bill which is the statutory provisions in Homeland Security that* go with the appropriations bill. he has threatened to veto that. That authorizes $40 billion for the activities of the Department of Homeland Security and includes strong accountability measures which were nonexistent under the Republican majority. He has threatened to veto the rail and transit security bill. H.R. 1401. which requires the Department of Homeland Security to develop plans to protect rail and mass transit and authorizes $6 billion over 4 years in grants to protect those systems. We dont have a system in place to protect rail and mass transit. In south Florida. we dont have a really strong mass transit system. You do in the major populations across the country. How many times have you been on a train and been checked or gone through security? There are no security measures around our rail system. We proposed legislation to do that. and the President is threatening to veto that. The Dubai Ports bill. maybe. people have forgotten about the proposal that the administration was completely supportive of and allowed to sail through their FISA process that would have allowed essentially a state foreignowned company to own port terminals in America. I mean. that just sailed through the administrations process. They basically ignored Federal law and allowed it to happen. We passed a law to tighten that. That passed 4230. No threat to veto there. We werent going to allow that situation to continue. We need to ensure foreign countries do not own our port terminals and further undermining our security in America. Now we have passed the military construction appropriations bill that would ensure that we have the largest single increase in veterans health care in American history. in addition to the Wounded Warrior Assistance Act which responds to the Walter Reed scandal. also ignored by the Republicans. That passed 4260. but it took Democrats to - pass that legislation. Really what this is about is who is for homeland security and who is just talk. who is for homeland security and who is just kidding. At the end of the day. actions are what speak louder than words. It is what you learned in kindergarten: Follow what people do. dont just listen to them talk. talk. talk. We have to show the American people what the Democrats are trying to accomplish that Republicans and this President is trying to block.