Chuck Schumer: “my reason for coming to the Chamber today is similar to those of many of my colleagues on this side of the aisle. We are…”

“my reason for coming to the Chamber today is similar to those of many of my colleagues on this side of the aisle. We are discussing what we hope the President will speak about tonight, what we want him to speak about, what we expect him to speak about. Some of my colleagues have talked about areas such as the economy, the environment, education, and health care. I am going to address the issue of homeland security because, as much as we do overseas, we have to make sure our homeland is secure as well. If, God willing, we were able to just eliminate all of al-Qaida and all of Saddam and his supporters, we would still face a danger from terrorism. Terrorists can strike almost at will in different ways, and our country is not yet secure against them, although I will say we have made some progress, particularly in the areas of air safety and in bioterrorism, since 9/11. But we have so much more to do. What worries me is that the focus of this administration is almost exclusively on fighting the war on terrorism overseas. To beat the terrorists we need a one-two punch-- one, fighting that war overseas, dealing with terrorism overseas; but, two, making our homeland more secure. And there seems to be a rather quaint and quirky notion among many of those in the administration that we can successfully fight the war here at home without spending a nickel. That is just wrong.”