Date: 2011-04-01
Speaker: LORETTA SANCHEZ (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Cali

fornia. Mr. Speaker. this country is in an unprecedented time with growing threats abroad and intense partisan rancor here in this Chamber. But at this time and at this moment. Mr. Speaker. my final amendment to the FAA authorization offers an opportunity to bridge these divides and to help add one more component to secure our homeland. I want my colleagues to remember our darkest moment. our very vulnerable moment. the morning of September 11. I know how vulnerable I felt that day with the uncertainty of not knowing where the next plane would hit. Would it be our Capitol? Would it be the Golden Gate Bridge? Would it be the Sears Tower? I also remember the eeriness of 4 or 5 days with no planes in the sky. the uncertainty we all felt. From Richard Reid trying to light a bomb in his shoes. to the Christmas Day bombing attempt just 2 years ago. our skies have long been a target for terrorists. This final amendment to the FAA reauthorization would ensure that Federal air marshals are deployed on all highrisk flights for U.S. airlines. For the last 20 years. our greatest threats from al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations have systematically targeted our passenger airlines. The fact that only a percentage of the highest risk passenger flights on U.S. airlines have a Federal air marshal shows the amount of work that we still need to do. If the recent attempted attacks I spoke about earlier havent changed your mind. then let me remind you about the instability in the Middle East we face right now. The Christmas Day bomber received his training in Yemen. a country now marred with protests that has the potential to become even more unstable and more difficult. Do we want more Christmas Day bombings? I dont believe so. As we are now all aware. our country is engaged in combat operations over the skies of Libya. No one doubts that Colonel Qadhafis days are numbered. and we will all be better off when there is one less dictator in this world. Some of the younger Members in this Chamber today may not remember. but Colonel Qadhafi has a history of attacking the United States. Twentytwo years ago. Pan Am Flight 103 took off from London en route to New York. when a bomb exploded and it killed 270 people. 189 of those were Americans. I believe we dont need another attack like that. not now and not ever. My colleagues. I urge you to join me in voting for my amendment to this bill and to ensure that we have more Federal air marshals on the highest risk flights. This issue has no aisle. it has no lines. There are no party lines about this. This is what we should do together. Mr. Speaker. as a senior member of the Homeland Security Committee. I have dedicated most of my years in this Congress to ensure that we protect our borders. that we protect our airspace. and that we prevent attacks like this one. Mr. Speaker. I am here today to make sure that we fulfill that dedication that I know all of my colleagues in this Chamber have. I ask my Republican colleagues to support this amendment that will ensure that we have Federal air marshals on highrisk flights. When we end our time here in the peoples House. when we look back and we ask what did we do. when we ask ourselves what was our purpose. I would like to be able to say we came together and we protected the American people. It is our solemn obligation in this Congress to do all that we can to defend our country. We owe it to those that we represent. we owe it to those on Pan Am Flight 103. and we owe it to those victims of the attacks of September 11. Especially. we owe it to the 26.000 passengers who fly our American skies every day. I ask my colleagues on the other side to vote for what is right. Do what is right. We must protect this countrys skies. It is up to us. and no one else will do it.