Joe Lieberman: “In the meantime, Mr. President, I would like to take this opportunity to say a word about amendment No. 3807 which…”

“In the meantime, Mr. President, I would like to take this opportunity to say a word about amendment No. 3807 which Senator McCain and I offered yesterday. This is another of the elements of the 9/11 Commission report that was part of legislation Senator McCain and I introduced the day after Labor Day as a way to guarantee that all elements of the 9/11 report would be before the Senate. This one has to do with effective screening to keep terrorists out of America and away from vital infrastructure in America. It is a comment on the age in which we live, something we have taken for granted in America but has been a great asset of ours, and that is the size of our country, the size of our borders, and the welcome mat we generally have put out for people visiting our country. That openness has been exploited--it certainly was prior to the attacks of September 11--exploited by those who, as someone else has said, hate us more than they love their own lives. They come in here and are prepared to blow themselves up to kill Americans. That demands that we not try to put a wall around America--we can never do that--but that we be aggressive and smart about raising our guard and requiring some standards of personal identification from people coming into America, something we have not required before.”