John Sarbanes: “I add the observation, we cannot afford to wait, either. Every one of the items--and I commend the Senator for his…”

“I add the observation, we cannot afford to wait, either. Every one of the items--and I commend the Senator for his extraordinary leadership and initiative in this regard--every one of the items covered by his homeland defense program are matters we should address now, today, this week, this month. They cry out for a commitment of resources to address airport security, port security, border security, the postal system, the assistance to State and local antiterrorism law enforcement, the firefighters, bioterrorism prevention, and protecting the nuclear powerplants. And in every one of these items, there is not a one of them we can look at and say, let's leave that; we will do that later; there is not a pressing need. There is a pressing need now for every one of these items. I commend the Senator for moving forward with this initiative. Governor Ridge himself has said he will come in next year and ask for significant resources. But he needs them now. My perception is that Governor Ridge is being undercut in his effort to deal with homeland security by the fact that he is not picking up the additional resources he needs in order to go out into these communities--State and local governments, the health community, the security community--and say, we are in a position now to help move your program, and move it ahead. Much of this requires a response from others. If we don't provide the resources here with which to do it, when is it going to happen?”