Byron Dorgan: “the legislation that is on the floor is legislation I will vote for and support. I think it advances our country's…”

“the legislation that is on the floor is legislation I will vote for and support. I think it advances our country's interests in dealing with the issue of terrorism. But I don't want to talk about what is in the bill; I want to talk about something that is not now in the bill and should be. I want to ask the question, Why? I came to the floor an hour ago and was surprised to find out that something about which I care very much, something agreed to in the Senate, is now no longer in this legislation. Here is the issue. I held and chaired a hearing in my subcommittee on Appropriations a couple weeks ago. The Customs Service was there and Immigration was there. They said we have a system in this country called the advance passenger information system. It is a system under which international air carriers electronically transmit to the Customs Service passenger and cargo manifests, so that before they enter and are cleared for departure, we know who is on that plane and what is on that plane, so we can determine whether there are people who should not be allowed to enter this country. That is the advance passenger information system. It works, but it is voluntary and only 85 percent of the carriers are complying. I asked at my hearing of Customs and Immigration: Should this be mandatory? They said: Absolutely, we need you to make this mandatory.”