Judd Gregg: “we are now on the supplemental appropriations bill. One of the issues raised in the supplemental appropriations bill, of…”

“we are now on the supplemental appropriations bill. One of the issues raised in the supplemental appropriations bill, of course, is national defense. The purpose of this bill is primarily to fund efforts to fight terrorism and especially to make sure that our troops in Iraq and in Afghanistan have what they need in order to effectively fight terrorism. A big part, however, of national defense is clearly border security--being sure that we know who comes into this country, know what their purposes are when they come into this country, and whether they are coming into this country for the purpose of visiting us or maybe participating in our economy or for the purpose of doing us harm. Unfortunately, we have for a number of years experienced borders which are very porous. That is a function of our history--where we have always believed in open borders, especially with our neighbors to the north and to the south. That has been one of our great attitudes as a nation--that we are an inviting nation, and we have always felt strongly that we should have reasonably open borders. But in the post-9/11 world--and especially in light of the dramatic number of people who have been coming into our country illegally--we can no longer tolerate that approach, unfortunately.…”