the cyber threat is one of the most serious economic and National security challenges we face . . .

Representative Bennie Thompson, the Ranking Member of the Homeland Security Committee, expressed these exact sentiments.

Funding is needed to test and evaluate these PODs to ensure their efficiency and effectiveness and the delivery of vaccines and medication during emergencies.

As a Nation, we have been fortunate that a WMD attack has not come to fruition in the United States.

Thank you Chairmen Lungren and Bilirakis for holding this hearing.

Let us focus on eliminating known security gaps. We are not endangered by people who are already locked up.

In the wake of 9/11, the Coast Guard's homeland security missions have become more important than ever.

This year, we will mark the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attack of September 11, 2001. That event changed our Nation, and in the process changed the shape of the Federal Government.

The terrorist threat is at its highest level since 9/11 according to the Department of Homeland Security.

Thank you Chairman Bilirakis for convening this important hearing on the frontlines of hurricane response.

This is not the time to cut back on homeland security.

It is vitally important that we provide them with the support they need.

Both urban areas maintain a common bond in understanding the need to ensure constant readiness for man-made and natural disasters.

Thank you, Chairman McCaul, for convening this hearing. I would also like to thank our witnesses for their participation, and I look forward to hearing their testimony.

The killing of Osama bin Laden, without a doubt, made the United States, in particular, and the entire world, in general, a safer place to live.

The second most offensive aspect of this bill is the shenanigans surrounding the funding of disaster emergencies. Lastly, ending Medicare in this rule makes absolutely no sense. For these reasons, I oppose H.R. 2017 and ask my colleagues…

I want to publicly add my voice to the many who have commended the President, the National security team, and our uniformed forces for successfully completing a mission that began over 10 years ago.

For many, the killing of bin Laden has always been the ultimate goal of the war on terror.

We went to war in Iraq because we were told that Saddam Hussein had some connection with bin Laden.

We went to war in Afghanistan to eliminate bin Laden's training camps and base of operation.

The success of this mission was made possible by this administration's efforts, reliable intelligence and the surgical use of force.

Bin Laden became the personification of terrorism for us.

I do not see any legitimate reason for the United States to let comprehensive immigration reform fall by the wayside, because Mexico is experiencing drug-related violence.

I think the point I am trying to make is, all the guns I own are legal.

I understand that he plans to oppose any effort to reform the Nation's immigration laws before the violence at the border declines.