Political Quotes

“although I am a strong supporter of fully utilizing all possible resources to combat this new and tragic war on terrorism, I have serious reservations over the proposal being presented to us today. Realistically, this bill would do nothing more than rearrange the deck chairs on the Titanic. What we really need is to address basic agency policies and promote efficient exchange of information without diminishing critical agency missions. Keeping major intelligence gathering sources separated from this agency and moving desks across the hall, begs the question as to what we will be accomplishing by this move? Will it result in a smoother information flow, not just from one Washington office to another, but to the actual communities which must have as much lead time as possible to prepare for attack? Are we actually expanding agency areas of responsibility or will it be business as usual? What are we really doing to ensure dam, water supply, energy sources, and transportation safety? What are we really doing to provide an enhanced capability to address hazardous material, chemical, or biological threats? What are we really doing to improve our risk, threat, and vulnerability assessments? What are we really doing to improve the delivery of emergency food, shelter, and medical care in the event of another tragedy? Troublesome are inconsistencies found in the bill.”