Austin Scott: “When you combine this with the startling revelation that half of this debt is being held by foreign countries, I go back…”

“When you combine this with the startling revelation that half of this debt is being held by foreign countries, I go back to that word ``security.'' Is it in our best security interest to have our financial well-being held in the hands of foreign countries? That is about as ridiculous as holding our port security in the hands of a foreign company owned by a country that had terrorist dealings, that provided nuclear materials to Iran, a country where two of the hijackers came from. This word ``security'' needs to reverberate throughout the American psyche. {time} 2200 We are depending too much on our financial security and our national security and port security from foreign interests. We Americans need to control our ports, and we need to have Americans at ports where they are originating shipments coming in. And we need to check 100 percent of our cargo. Mr. Ross, if Hong Kong can check 100 percent of its cargo coming into its ports, and it checks 22 million cargo pieces a year, we check only 11, Hong Kong is not even a terrorist target and we are. Hong Kong checks 100 percent. They are not a terrorist target; we are a terrorist target, do not check but 5 percent. As Ethan Hunt said in Mission Impossible, the NOC list is out. It is out in the open. They know that we do not check but 5 percent of our cargo. But the point I wanted to make in terms of the foreign lenders is, because I think it is important, Mr. Ross, that the American people know who is holding our debt.…”