Thomas Daschle: “since September 11, 2000, Congress has provided the President, our military, our intelligence agencies, and our Federal…”

“since September 11, 2000, Congress has provided the President, our military, our intelligence agencies, and our Federal law enforcement officials with the resources and tools needed to hunt down members of al-Qaida and to break up their activities and the activities of other terrorist organizations. In addition to the regular appropriations bills that provide funding to our troops and our intelligence and law enforcement agencies, we have passed several supplemental appropriations bills totaling close to $100 billion to cover the unanticipated costs of these operations. Regrettably, the record is not as good when it comes to making our homeland and home towns more secure. Within weeks of the 9/11 tragedy, Senate Democrats, led by Senator Byrd, launched an effort to begin addressing the major gaps in our Nation's efforts to defend itself from future attacks. Senator Byrd proposed that we provide $15 billion for first responders and to address the vulnerabilities of our Nation's transportation system, chemical and nuclear facilities, public health system, and borders.”