Watson Coleman: “I reiterate the great respect I have for my colleague from New York. He is concerned about this area and he is…”

“I reiterate the great respect I have for my colleague from New York. He is concerned about this area and he is passionate about safety. I want to make it clear that we are not counseling patience. We are not asking for delay. It is just the opposite. What we are doing and what we have done and what we did yesterday was action. What we are objecting to is an amendment that offers no real increase in security. We are objecting to an amendment that doesn't do anything, doesn't move the ball forward. It gives an opportunity to talk about 100 percent scanning, and it may end up in some commercial somewhere. I hope that is not what this is about. The amendment doesn't do anything. It doesn't push the ball forward. This is not about patience. I am not very patient when it comes to making sure we are doing everything possible to protect against the possibility of a nuclear weapon being smuggled into this country, and that is what this bill does. The amendment is to put in place a pilot project, move quickly; that is what it does. The amendment is to require 100 percent screening of all high-risk containers. That is what it does. We heard in committee the other day from the Secretary of Homeland Security, saying we can have 100 percent screening of all cargo containers for radiological devices by next year. We are not counseling patience. We are supporting action and objecting to an amendment that offers no increase in safety. It doesn't move the ball forward at all.…”