Shelley Berkley: “It has been 3 years since the 9/11 attack on our Nation. Are we safer than we were before 9/11? Are we safe enough? The…”

“It has been 3 years since the 9/11 attack on our Nation. Are we safer than we were before 9/11? Are we safe enough? The 9/11 Commission has done its job; now it is time for Congress to do ours. Homeland security is still pitifully underfunded. Our police and firefighters are struggling to cope with the dual responsibilities of homeland security and traditional public safety in law enforcement. The Bush administration has foolishly underfunded first responders and port security. The administration has failed to include a single dollar in its budget for rail or transit security. First responders in southern Nevada tell me that we must direct more resources to those on the frontline on our war against terrorism: police, firefighters, hospital personnel. Given the President's plan to transport thousands of shipments of deadly radioactive nuclear waste across the country, it is imperative that the President plan to protect these proposed mobile Chernobyls from the possibility of a terrorist attack. Yet we have done nothing to ensure that our rail lines are safe. Republican leadership has failed to come forward with a meaningful homeland security plan. They failed to address the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission, and they failed to provide for the needs of our first responders. This Congress needs to act now in order to protect the people of this great Nation.”