Patty Murray: “we have waited day after day in the Senate on political issues when we should be taking the Senate's time to make…”

“we have waited day after day in the Senate on political issues when we should be taking the Senate's time to make America more secure. Last week, the majority leader mentioned port security in a long list of issues to be debated before the August recess. While Senator Frist continues to pay lipservice to this important priority, I remain concerned that with only a week left before the August recess we have no firm schedule or commitment to bring this bill to the floor. I am worried that while the majority says it wants to act, it refuses to put any action behind that rhetoric. And here's the bottom line--if God forbid there is an incident at one of our ports--the fingers will point to this Chamber. And people will want to know: Why did the Senate sit on a bill that passed the full House and passed the Senate Homeland Security Committee? Why didn't we make these ports secure when we had the chance? The only thing keeping the GreenLane bill from protecting us is the Senate's failure to take it up. We have to bring up and pass this bill before it's too late. I am here today because nearly 5 years after 9/11 our country is still vulnerable to a terrorist attack. Just this week, an article in the Seattle Times showed us that our ports are not secure. A reporter was able to enter two West Coast ports simply by hiding in trucks that were entering those ports. The reported walked around cargo containers in areas that are supposed to be secure.…”