Eliot Engel: “let me start by stating my sheer admiration for the men and women of the United States Coast Guard. Their performance…”

“let me start by stating my sheer admiration for the men and women of the United States Coast Guard. Their performance during and after Katrina was phenomenal and they deserve our gratitude and praise. I rise to thank the Chairs and Ranking Members of the Transportation Committee and its Coast Guard subcommittee. A year ago, they worked with me to add language to the Coast Guard authorization bill requiring the Coast Guard and Department of Homeland Security to do a security assessment of the Indian Point nuclear power plant. As that bill moved through the process, this study was expanded to all nuclear power plants in the United States. I am pleased to report that DHS plans on releasing this report very soon--perhaps even this week. While I am well aware that security for nuclear plants is a sensitive matter and fully understand that this might require that parts of this report be classified, it is my hope that the report would contain unclassified sections to permit those around the nuclear plants to gain a better understanding of how our government is protecting them. We know for a fact that Al Qaeda has the plans of U.S. nuclear power plants. We know that these facilities are a target. We, the Congress and the rest of the federal government, have a responsibility to ensure the safety and security of these plants and our citizens.…”