David Obey: “It is not appropriate, however, that we will be considering a conference bill in which the budget allocation of the…”

“It is not appropriate, however, that we will be considering a conference bill in which the budget allocation of the House and Senate equals only $29.4 billion, a mere 2.3 percent above today's funding. That does not even equal inflation. The House and the Senate bills are, in this case, a bit different. The House bill provides more funding for first responders. The Senate bill provides more funding to secure our northern border, as the gentleman has indicated, for airport security and for Disaster Relief. All of that is needed, plus more. The House bill also includes the amendment offered by the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Markey) to require that cargo carried on passenger aircraft is screened. This is the right thing to do. Today no cargo is screened. According to a TSA public statement there is a 35 to 65 percent likelihood that terrorists are planning to put a bomb in cargo on a passenger plane. But even if we were to do all of the things required and funded in the House and Senate bills, we will still leave many homeland security problems to deal with for another day.”