Patty Murray: “I came to the floor last night to give extensive remarks about the tremendous importance of the amendment that has been…”

“I came to the floor last night to give extensive remarks about the tremendous importance of the amendment that has been offered by Senator Byrd in the area of transportation for port security, airport security, and transit security. I have been listening to the debate this morning. I wanted to come to the floor to refute a critical misstatement that has been made about the amendment that has been offered by Senator Byrd. It was argued by my friends on the other side of the aisle that the funds in this bill are all over and above the funding requested by President Bush. I need to tell my colleagues that in the area of transportation that is just simply not true. In the underlying bill, the funding level for the Transportation Security Administration is some $460 million short of what is needed to fully fund all of the congressionally directed initiatives, as well as fully fund the security requests of the Bush administration. This amendment that has been offered by Senator Byrd provides $460 million for the TSA needs to fully fund what President Bush has requested for the Transportation Security Administration.”