Political Quotes

“I commend Senators Lieberman and Collins for their leadership and the members of the Conference Committee for their work on this important legislation. More than five years after 9/11--despite tens of billions of dollars spent--America's ports, rails, airports, borders, nuclear powerplants and chemical plants are still not as safe as they could be. It has been almost 3 years since the 9/11 Commission issued its final recommendations. This legislation is a major step toward fully implementing the recommendations of the bipartisan 9/11 Commission. It changes course after years of inadequate action on critical homeland security needs. The bill will make America more secure because it: provides funding for first responders; makes it harder for potential terrorists to enter the United States; helps secure our rail, air, and mass transit systems; and improves intelligence and information sharing at all levels of law enforcement. I am especially proud to highlight a few provisions in the bill that I have championed for some time. The legislation specifies that States can use Federal grants to design, conduct, and evaluate mass evacuation plans and exercises.”