Political Quotes

“Mr. President, it is a great pleasure to join the Senator from Washington State, Ms. Cantwell, in discussing some very important provisions that were included in the Customs conference report that the Senate acted on earlier this afternoon. As Senators representing border States, we are particularly attuned to the security and economic consequences of our border security policies. When it comes to travel, our country's goals should be to let our friends in and to keep our enemies out. As the Senator from Washington so eloquently described, the best way for us to do that is to push out our borders. Today, approximately 15 percent of travelers boarding an airplane destined for the United States do so only after fully clearing U.S. Customs and immigration inspections at 15 Department of Homeland Security preclearance facilities located in foreign airports. That is a start, but it doesn't go far enough. If we truly want to enhance our security, we need to advance the use of preclearance facilities in other foreign airports, and that is exactly what the Senator from Washington and I would do and what the Senate voted to do today. As Senator Cantwell has described, it is something that we have long worked on together as a team for many years, and I am very pleased with the progress we can point to today. Now, let me just briefly explain how preclearance works. Under the preclearance program, we station U.S. law enforcement officials overseas at foreign airports.…”