Harry Reid: “One of the--and I am sorry to say this--controversial aspects of this legislation deals with something Senator Byrd has…”

“One of the--and I am sorry to say this--controversial aspects of this legislation deals with something Senator Byrd has called homeland security. There will be efforts to strike this provision because it costs too much money, according to some, even though Governor Ridge, the homeland security czar, has stated that we need hundreds of millions of dollars for the things he has already recognized need to be done. If we, in our mind's eye, fix the headlines of newspapers in recent weeks--Smallpox threat; subsequent headline: Cost of smallpox vaccinations more than originally anticipated; yesterday's headlines across the country: Osama bin Laden and the terrorists have recognized that they have what is called a dirty nuclear weapon, maybe--I hope we will be in a position to do something about this. That is what Senator Byrd has tried to do.”