Ernest Istook: “Mr. Speaker, as I have mentioned, this bill tries to meet the needs of Federal law enforcement and border security…”

“Mr. Speaker, as I have mentioned, this bill tries to meet the needs of Federal law enforcement and border security, although not totally so because there are greater needs that we hope to meet in further legislation coming forward. I think it is important to mention that of the numbers mentioned by my colleague from Arizona, there has been coupled in that mandatory spending from previous Congresses for things such as the insurance and retirement benefits for Federal employees that are not under the control of this subcommittee. We have control over certain accounts and we have sought to be very responsible making sure that it is the Federal law enforcement, such as through Customs, that has the 12 percent increase that makes some other numbers look higher in this bill than they actually are. We know that, at our borders, only 1 to 2 percent of the cargo that comes through is currently inspected. Why? Because we have neither enough manpower nor technology to examine these things for the safety of the American people, to be looking for things that may be chemical, they could be biological, they could be nuclear. We know the threats are out there. We are trying to improve the security of our homeland. We cannot do it without providing the resources. We are trying to prosecute the war on terrorism with the troops that we see on land, at sea and in the air in the Middle East, in Afghanistan right now.”