Jay Inslee: “I hope people understand, this is not the only security issue that we are concerned about; it is one of many. Perhaps it…”

“I hope people understand, this is not the only security issue that we are concerned about; it is one of many. Perhaps it is the most glaring omission in our entire security system, but there are many that we need to make sure of. That is a package that we should have been voting on tonight. Instead of just talking about it, we should have been talking about a security package to increase security at our borders. We have had a porous border, both north and south. We now are trying to improve it, and as a result, we have lines that are 5 hours long for honest citizens to try to get across the Canadian border. This is killing the economics both of Canada and the State of Washington. Instead of putting on additional security personnel and funding that out of our general funds, we are arguing about all these other things here instead of security. We need to talk about border security. It should be part of our stimulus package; not just $60 billion as a tax cut for corporations, but let us talk about security. Public health. We know, and this is hardly a secret, that we are not where we should be and can be in dealing with biological and chemical threats in the United States.”