Martin Sabo: “let me just make a few comments. First, let me be clear. I have great appreciation for the work of the chairman of our…”

“let me just make a few comments. First, let me be clear. I have great appreciation for the work of the chairman of our committee, Mr. Rogers, and what he has done in this subcommittee. The work of his subcommittee has significantly improved the recommendations of the President over the last several years as relates to homeland security. The bills that have passed Congress have been significantly better than what we got from the administration. But I also agree with him that this bill today is about the war on terrorism. And one of the most important parts in dealing with the war on terrorism is dealing with port security and the security of containers coming into this country. I disagree with those who say that who owns and how terminals are operated is irrelevant to security. Who operates them and how they operate them is very relevant, as we have dealt with in this bill in committee. However, how we provide the other security dwarfs the importance of who and how terminals are operated. How we deal with containers coming into this country, both at our ports and our other ports of entry in this country is tremendously important. We have made some progress, but anyone who suggests that we are there in terms of port security in this country today I think is badly misinformed. We have a long ways to go, and it has been over 4 years since 9/11. We are not simply throwing money at a problem here.…”