Thad Cochran

Mr. COCHRAN

Mr. COCHRAN. I am happy to yield to my friend from Florida.

Mr. COCHRAN. We appreciate the Senator from New York bringing this to the attention of the Senate. We know there is a tracking system in effect--but we are not sure it is as inclusive as he suggests we need it to be--for trucks that carry hazardous material. They try to keep up with that. They have a system in place. We are glad to have the chance to review this suggestion, and we will do that and hope the Senate will withhold action on this amendment tonight, and we can call it up tomorrow, or later, whatever the leaders end up deciding we will do in terms of further action on this bill. We are at a point where I think we are close to winding up the action on this bill today. We have had a full day of activity. A number of amendments have been presented and voted on. We appreciate the cooperation of all Senators in letting us know the identity of the amendments that were to be offered. We are going to continue to work hard to get this bill finished by sometime on Tuesday of next week. That is our goal, and I think we will be able to achieve that goal. One item we hope to be able to clear has been presented to the Senate by the Senator from Virginia, Mr. Allen, related to a survey in the State of Virginia on a mitigation issue surrounding flooding in the Richmond area. It is my hope that we will be able to get that passed, if we can, by a voice vote tonight, and then maybe go out if there is no further business. I yield to my friend from Nevada. Amendment No. 3610

Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, I ask that we agree to the Allen amendment on a voice vote.

Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, first, I thank all Senators for their cooperation in the handling of the bill yesterday. We made progress in disposing of several amendments. We also achieved a very important milestone in the handling of the bill. We have an agreed list of amendments that are in order to the bill. This will limit the offering of amendments to only those on the list. We appreciate very much Senators permitting us to enter that order last evening. The bill provides total new budget authority for fiscal year 2005 of $33.1 billion to fund the Department. In addition, an estimated $2.9 billion in collections from offsetting collections from user-financed services, Customs duties, and trust funds will be available to finance activities of the Department for fiscal year 2005. Excluding mandatory appropriations for retired pay of the United States Coast Guard, the bill provides $32 billion in discretionary spending, consistent with the amount allocated by the full committee for this bill. This is $896 million more than the President's fiscal year 2005 discretionary spending request; and $2.8 billion more than the fiscal year 2004 appropriations level, excluding emergency supplemental appropriations and including a $1.6 billion increase in the availability of advance appropriations for biodefense countermeasures. The additional amount above the President's request level is used to increase funding to assist State and local first responders, to enhance aviation security, to harden critical infrastructures that are potential targets to terrorists, and to better secure our ports and waterways. The bill also attempts to address the most critical outstanding need, that of rail and transit security. This proposal includes $150 million for rail and transit security grants; $34 million for high explosives countermeasures, including $24 million for commuter and passenger rail environments; $194 million for protective actions, including protective measures for rail; and $15 million for rail inspectors and canine explosives detection teams. The bill recommends $632 million for management and operations of the Department, including $65 million requested by the President to continue to consolidate the Department's headquarters operations at the Nebraska Avenue Complex. To secure our Nation's borders and enforce and investigate customs and immigration laws, the bill recommends total appropriations of $8.7 billion, including $5 billion for the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection and $3.4 billion for the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. This includes an increase of $50 million more than the request level for the Federal air marshals. An increase of $64 million is provided for the container security initiative. This initiative seeks to enhance the security of an indispensable, but vulnerable, link in the chain of global trade: the oceangoing shipping container. Proactively screening containers before they reach the United States will significantly contribute to efforts to secure the borders against dangers that might be introduced through commercial trade. A more secure maritime trade infrastructure will ensure the continued smooth flow of merchandise through seaports. The illegal alien population of the United States has risen to record levels. According to the Department, the undocumented alien population has grown from approximately 3 million in 1990 to an estimated 9 million today. This bill provides $107 million in additional resources for detaining and removing such individuals from this country. The bill also provides $478 million for the Federal Protective Service, which is the same as the President's budget request, to ensure a safe and secure workplace for Federal employees. Also included is $340 million for U.S. VISIT, the new system to identify and track foreign visitors and students and to screen for possible terrorist or criminal involvement. In new budget authority $140 million is provided for Citizenship and Immigration Services in addition to the $1.5 billion estimated in collections available for these operations. For the Transportation Security Administration, TSA, responsible for ensuring security across the U.S. transportation system, including aviation, railways, highways, and ports, the bill provides total funding of $5.2 billion, $184 million more than the President's budget request, and $648 million more than the fiscal year 2004 level. In addition, it assumes $400 million less than the President's request in offsetting aviation security fee collections. While the bill does not contain the President's requested legislative proposal to mandate the level of fees, it does require the General Accounting Office to initiate review activities necessary to resolve the appropriate level of fee collections based on calendar year 2000 airline security costs. Over 53 percent of the funds made available for TSA are provided for Federal screeners at our Nation's commercial airports. This includes $2.8 billion for aviation security personnel compensation and benefits, and training of passenger and baggage screeners. Also provided for aviation security is $161 million for passenger checkpoint support and $210 million for the purchase of baggage explosive detection systems. For airport security direction and enforcement, $872 million is provided, including $293 million for airport information technology support, $25 million for Federal flight deck officer training, and $43 million for air cargo security and enforcement. For maritime and surface transportation security activities, the bill provides $55 million for transportation worker identification credentials; $15 million for rail security efforts; $17 million for hazardous materials driver license endorsement program; and $24 million for maritime and land security staffing, operational oversight, and administration of maritime and land grant functions. To further improve transportation security, $181 million is provided for research and development of the latest technologies to detect and deter terrorist attacks, including $57 million for research and development of next generation explosive detection systems, and $75 million for research and development of new technologies to screen air cargo. This bill provides nearly $7.5 billion for the United States Coast Guard, including $5.2 billion for military pay and operation of bases and $1.1 billion for upgrading and replacing the Coast Guard's cutters, helicopters and planes. Currently, the Coast Guard is deployed in support of operations in Iraq, is conducting its new homeland security mission, and is maintaining its traditional missions such as marine resource protection and drug interdiction. The Coast Guard's deepwater recapitalization program is funded at $776 million, $98 million more than the President's request level. For the United States Secret Service, the President's budget request of $1.2 billion is fully funded to support the Service's protective and investigative missions. For the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, $224 million is included to provide preeminent law enforcement training to more than 20,000 Federal law enforcement professionals in the coming fiscal year. To further strengthen the capacity of the Nation's first responders, a total of $3.7 billion is provided for the new Office of State and Local Government Coordination and Preparedness, created by the Secretary of Homeland Security through the use of his reorganization authority. The Department's grant programs have been consolidated under this new office. Included in the amount recommended is $1.37 billion for State and local basic formula grants, including law enforcement terrorism prevention grants; and $1.2 billion for urban area security initiative discretionary grants. Within the urban area security initiative, specific funds have been provided, $150 million for port security grants, $150 million for rail and transit security grants, $15 million for trucking security grants, and $10 million for intercity bus security grants. The bill also provides $700 million for firefighter assistance grants and $180 million for emergency management performance grants. Both of these programs are continued under the consolidated office as stand- alone programs. The bill provides over $5.6 billion for programs and activities of the Directorate for Emergency Preparedness and Response which was created with the transfer of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, FEMA, to the new Department of Homeland Security. This appropriation includes over $231.499 million for preparedness, mitigation, response and recovery activities, including $30 million for 28 strategically located urban search and rescue teams. Disaster assistance is funded at $2.151 billion, as requested in the President's budget. The President's request of $2.15 billion is based on the historical yearly average of $2.9 billion, and relies on an anticipated carryover balance from the previous year to meet the needs of disaster victims. Previously appropriated funds of $2.528 billion, will be available for fiscal year 2005 for Project BioShield to spur the development of biodefense countermeasures. In addition, the bill assumes the transfer of the Strategic National Stockpile to the Department of Health and Human Services, as proposed in the President's budget. For the Department's information analysis and infrastructure protection activities, the bill recommends $876 million to identify and assess current threats to the homeland, map threat information against current vulnerabilities, issue timely warnings, and take preventive and protective action. A critical component of IAIP is the development and implementation of protective actions for the Nation's critical infrastructures. The bill provides $193 million to carry out activities including the buffer zone and site security program for protection of chemical facilities, nuclear power plants, nuclear spent fuel storage facilities, water treatment facilities, bridges, subways, tunnels, and other critical infrastructures. To identify these critical infrastructures and their vulnerabilities, to assess identified risks, and to deploy a database of critical infrastructures, the bill provides $65 million. The bill provides $92 million to allow for the Department to share data with infrastructure owners and operators regarding vulnerabilities and for the hosting of departmental applications, network connectivity, and critical data storage. As part of the effort by IAIP to better secure not only physical assets but also cyber assets, the bill includes $67 million to monitor, predict, and prevent cyber attacks, to minimize the damage from and to efficiently recover from attacks. For science and technology, total appropriations of $1.1 billion are recommended to support homeland security through basic and applied research; to develop prototypes; and to procure technologies to detect, destroy, dispose, and mitigate the effects of weapons of mass destruction. Of this amount, the bill provides $346 million for biological countermeasures to deter, detect, and mitigate acts of biological terrorism against the United States. The bill also provides $128 million for nuclear and radiological countermeasures for use in operational environments; $52 million for the development of technologies to defend against attacks by chemical warfare agents or toxic industrial chemicals; and $34 million for high explosives countermeasures, including $24 million for rail security high explosives countermeasures. A total of $75 million is made available for the rapid development and prototyping of new technologies in support of homeland security. The bill also continues funding of $69 million for the establishment of a university-based system to enhance and strengthen the efforts of homeland security on our Nation's campuses. Funding of $61 million is provided for research, development, testing, and evaluation of an anti-missile system for commercial aircraft. Mr. President, I know other Senators wish to speak on the bill, and some want to make opening statements. I think particularly the distinguished Senator from West Virginia has a statement to make on the bill. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, haven't I made a point of order? Doesn't that require a ruling of the Chair?

Mr. COCHRAN. I move to lay that motion on the table. The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.

Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, the distinguished Senator from West Virginia has offered an amendment that would increase the Homeland Security appropriations bill, according to the CBO, by $2 billion. A variety of accounts are included in the amendment for increases. The Customs and Border Protection account, for example, would be increased under the Senator's amendment by $50 million for northern border staffing and $50 million for radiation detectors at ports of entry. The bill we have before us already includes a $50 million increase for radiation detectors. The Department has met the goal already of tripling the number of border patrol agents on the northern border. Funds were provided last year in the Homeland Security appropriations bill to ensure that more border patrol agents would be deployed on the northern border. We have provided significant increases for inspector staffing since September 11, 2001. We have included funds, for example, for radiation detection equipment and other detection systems along the northern border. Last year, Congress provided funding for the permanent establishment of the first northern border air wing to be located in Bellingham, WA. Resources are being made available for a second northern border air wing in New York. We expect further funds will be requested to continue the expansion of coverage of the northern border in future years. It is a challenging undertaking. That border covers over 5,000 miles. It is a daunting task. We cannot accomplish in 1 year or with one amendment all of the goals we have to enhance and improve the protection of our homeland by more sophisticated, more modern deployments along the northern border, but we are making and have made important strides. We cannot achieve every goal immediately. It is going to take time. My suggestion in opposing this amendment is that we are appropriately identifying the priorities and making the funds available to achieve the goals in a thoughtful, coherent, and successful fashion. The administration is proposing increases in these accounts. We have accommodated those proposals. We have added to many of the proposals over and above what the administration has requested. Another example in this amendment offered by my friend proposes a $50 million increase in the Federal Air Marshal program. The Department has worked to supplement resources for these activities by using transfer authority to increase resources. The Department has used other Federal law enforcement officers to provide additional flight coverage on commercial airliners as needed. The committee recognizes in this bill the needs of this organization, and we have provided an additional $50 million in this bill for this next fiscal year for Federal Air Marshals out of additional funds provided to this Committee. Another account is Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The Senator's amendment would add an additional $11 million for the Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Alternatives to Detention program. The bill already provides $14.2 million--an increase of $11 million--providing funding for 30 new positions, as requested by the President, to expand the Alternatives to Detention program. This amendment, if we agree to it, would expand the program 12-fold in a single year. Another account, Transportation Security Administration. The Senator's amendment proposes a $104 million increase for the Transportation Security Administration for enhanced passenger checkpoint screening and hazardous material security grants. Last year, our committee proposed and Congress approved $153.2 million for these activities. In this bill for next year, we have included $344.3 million for passenger and baggage screener training of all newly hired screeners and for recurrent and advanced technical training for the entire screener workforce to meet proficiency and qualification standards. In addition to the training of screeners, funding is included for an annual proficiency evaluation of all screeners and supervisors to ensure that the screener workforce meets all of the qualifications and standards required to perform their duties as required by the Aviation Transportation Security Act. For this fiscal year, 2004, $33 million was made available for airport passenger security checkpoint support. For this next fiscal year, in this bill we provide $161 million--$128 million more than last year's level and $75 million more than the President's request. This bill is meeting the challenge. We are providing the funds that will enable the Department of Homeland Security to have well-trained, well- qualified personnel doing these jobs in our airports, that will meet the requirements of the law and also meet the expectations we all have to use the airlines for qualified, capable, and dependable workforce participants. The additional funding we have provided above the President's request is available also to deploy explosive trace detection portals, taking advantage of new technologies that are being developed which help ensure that we do the best possible job, the most thorough job of making sure people are not getting on the airplanes with explosive materials. This is something the distinguished Senator from West Virginia has made a point of in our hearings and in statements on the Senate floor--the challenge that is provided by these dangers. We are doing what ought to be done by providing the funds to take advantage of new technology, to encourage development of new technology to help us meet these goals. The Senator's amendment also proposes a $324 million increase in the Coast Guard's Deepwater capitalization budget. I am excited about the Deepwater Program and the plans the Coast Guard has for modernizing and improving its fleet. This needs to be done. In testimony in our hearings, we learned that some of our Coast Guard cutters have hulls that are rusting away. Some are dangerous to operate. They are a threat in some cases to the men and women who serve in the Coast Guard. We cannot tolerate that. So it is time for us to make new investments in refurbishing and building new ships and boats for the Coast Guard, and other equipment, such as helicopters. The whole point is the bill we presented to the Senate, though, funds each asset requested in the budget within the Coast Guard's acquisition, construction, and improvement account. It has requested funds it can reasonably and efficiently use in the next fiscal year, and our committee has recognized and agreed with this need to address the top priorities of the Coast Guard sooner rather than later. So we have increased the funding for reengineering the HH-65 helicopter and have moved forward the plan design of the offshore patrol cutter. You cannot build a ship, though, before it is designed. You cannot modernize before you have the preliminary work done. So what we are doing is providing the funds that can be used by the Coast Guard to advance the construction program and to modernize their fleet. The bill before us has already increased the Deepwater account $98 million above the President's request. We are bordering on overdoing it already, but I am satisfied these additions are necessary and they are justified. Going to the level proposed in this amendment is overdoing it. In the Office of State and Local Government Coordination and Preparedness, the distinguished Senator's amendment would add over $700 million to the First Responder Grant Programs. Some Senators have suggested that we carefully review the Hart-Rudman report, which I did when I was asked to serve as chairman of this subcommittee and talked with my good friend, the former Senator from New Hampshire, who helped write that report to get his thoughts and to find out all I could about their suggestions. What they suggested was there was a $98 billion unfunded need for first responders, but the report says this: The budget estimates are preliminary and the estimates they make in their report are preliminary. It depends upon other factors. And the report ``cannot be more precise in the absence of systematic national requirements methodology and that the development of such a methodology is badly needed.'' Rather than bank on a number that was reached up and brought out of thin air, the administration has gone to a more authoritative Commission that was given the responsibility of doing what they said, and that is to develop a methodology. That has been done and suggested by the Commission, the Gilmore Commission. It is an advisory panel to assess domestic response capabilities for terrorism involving weapons of mass destruction. The Gilmore Commission's final report, which was issued in December of 2003, includes the following statement: Prognostication about the amount of funding that the Federal Government should provide in the near future is premature at best. Recent calls for the funding upward of $100 billion is, in our view, not the wisest approach. Federal funds have started to flow. Absent a more clear articulation of an end state and the levels of preparedness sought to be achieved with some reasonable way to measure our efforts, any attempts to establish an overall price tag is mere speculation and could be politically unwise. I agree with that. We have carefully reviewed at our hearings the testimony of experts, those who are in the administration as well who have responsibilities for administering these programs. We have questioned them. We have cross-examined them to find out what the facts are, what are the needs. There is adequate funding in the pipeline, I suggest, now for first responder grants. A pipeline is only so big. You can stuff it full of money and you stop the flow. We do not want to do that. So I think we have to be careful about how much we direct the administration to spend and make sure it can be efficiently used, effectively used, and will achieve the goals we all share. I am hopeful the Senate will agree that we should not overdo it. We do not need to overspend, and overspending is not going to make us a safer or more secure Nation. Throwing money at complex, technical problems will not produce the results we need for a safer and more secure homeland. Having said those things in an effort to put in context the proposal that is before the Senate from the distinguished Senator from West Virginia, and my views, at least, of why we should support the committee's recommendation, additionally, I am constrained to observe that because of the Congressional Budget Office assessment that this amendment would call for spending $1.889 billion in additional funds, over and above the $32 billion that is already included in this bill, it is beyond the allocation of the committee, as agreed to by the Senate Committee on Appropriations yesterday. And because it exceeds that allocation, I am constrained to make a point of order under section 302(f) of the Congressional Budget Act that the amendment provides spending in excess of the subcommittee's 302(b) allocation.

Mr. COCHRAN. I am happy to do that.

Mr. COCHRAN. I thank the Chair.

Mr. COCHRAN. I am happy to yield to the Senator.

Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, I thank the distinguished Senator for his willingness to set his amendment aside. It will be held at the desk, and we will consider it in due course if we do not resolve it in the supplemental as I expect it to be resolved. I assure the Senator that he is correct in the notion that we are going to work with him, cooperate with him, and with the people of his State and others who benefit from these Red Cross activities. I thank the Senator for his cooperation.

Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, let me congratulate the distinguished Senator from Tennessee for this amendment. I think what this achieves, if it is agreed to by the Senate, is that it prevents this oath being changed by regulation or fiat by some administration official. If the oath is going to be changed, it will have to be changed by law because it was established by law, as he points out, in section 337 of the Immigration and Nationality Act. I am glad to be reminded that I am a cosponsor of his corresponding bill, and so are other Senators. I am told that an effort is being made to clear the amendment on the other side of the aisle, and we are awaiting the advice of the distinguished leader. I am going to ask if the Senator will permit us to go into a quorum until we can get a response from the other side. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. COCHRAN. I would be glad to consider the amendment and review it carefully. I wonder if there is an offset in the amendment that would provide some source for making up the funds. We are limited in our allocation of funding under the Budget Act, and we are at the limit. Any amendment that adds spending to the bill without offsetting it against some other account is subject to a point of order under the Budget Act. That was the next part of the process of analyzing this amendment. I hadn't gotten any satisfaction on the answer to that question. Maybe the Senator knows the answer.

Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. COCHRAN

Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, a point of order. I have no objection to the dispensing of the reading of the amendment, but a point of order. Is there already an amendment pending from the Senator at the desk? Is this the second amendment or is this a different amendment?

Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, before we start agreeing on times for votes, that is above my pay grade. We have a distinguished majority leader, and we will have to consult with him and other Senators.

Mr. COCHRAN. It depends on what his amendment is. We may all rejoice and vote for it. Who knows? Again, we may not.

Mr. COCHRAN. Fine.

Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, the Senator talks about we have sort of rubberstamped what the President has asked for in some of these areas. We have agreed with the President on some of his initiatives because we thought he was right, but when we thought the administration was wrong or where they have requested funds, as he pointed out, in the railroad area, for security programs there, this committee has recommended and the Congress has agreed to add funds over and above what has been requested by the President. In this particular area, where the Senator is coming in now and doubling the amount of money we have in this one particular grant program--we have appropriated for this program almost $500 million, specifically for port security grants, since fiscal year 2002. We are addressing this issue. This is the point, and I am not apologizing for the decisions this committee has made and that have been ratified by both Houses of Congress and approved in the appropriations conference report. We have appropriated almost $500 million specifically for this program. We have asked for another $150 million this year. That is not enough, he says; double it. We can talk about it on and on and on and go into all the other accounts that involve security in urban areas, high threat areas, but we have to realize there is a limit. Some Senators think we can come in and double the amounts in individual accounts and it will not matter, but if we keep on doing that before this bill is passed, we will have added no telling how much to the deficit. We would have put the administration in a position where they are going to have to either ask for deferrals or recisions of funds. If they cannot possibly get grants out to people who are qualified to use the money or can justify the use of the funds, we cannot pour the money on the ground, and I am not going to stand here and go along with suggestions that amount to spending more because it sounds as if we are going to be doing more. It does not necessarily follow. I am hopeful we will have in place within the next few minutes some information about the total allocation of funding to this committee, because without that we can continue to add money for individual accounts in this bill for the rest of today and tonight and on into the weekend and then we will have to go back through and start striking funds that have been added so we will be consistent with the allocation to the subcommittee. What I am asking the Senate to do, and the reason I put in the suggestion for a quorum when I first made the point of order, is to await the advice of the Committee on Appropriations. I am told they sent the information over electronic device, but we need it written on paper so Senators can read it and can understand what the limitations are. So I am hopeful we can await the advice of the full committee on the action that has been taken today. I would appreciate it very much. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, it is always instructive to listen to the distinguished Senator from New York talk about programs and activities that are of major concern to his constituents, particularly in the New York City area, but New York State generally. We appreciate his observations and his expression of concern about technologies and advancements and new ways of protecting the citizens of his State and our country against nuclear threats or other threats to our security. We think the Department has made important progress in these areas, analyzing and understanding the technologies that are available. We have included, for example, encouragement for additional investigations in this area. I am reading from page 84 of the committee report now. It says: The Committee expects a significant expansion of the Countermeasures Test Bed being conducted with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey in testing technologies to detect radiation/nuclear threats to include railway, general aviation facility monitoring, expanded roadways coverage, and an additional seaport. The Committee is aware of technology proposals developed with national laboratories to facilitate the inspection of containerized cargo for fissile materials as a part of the normal off-loading process at the Nation's seaports. The Department is focused on the importance that we all believe should be paid to this area of interest and concern. We know that existing technologies are being deployed by agencies at ports of entry, including the U.S. Coast Guard and the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection. They provide an effective nuclear countermeasure system, but continued focused development can considerably extend these capabilities in order to develop technologies for application to specific locations, including those in the intermodal transportation system, in the maritime domain, at border ports of entry, and in the aviation industry. Specifically, the committee included in this section of the bill to which this amendment is directed great latitude in approving grants that can be the subject of applications from not only States but local jurisdictions such as port security areas. Of the total provided by the committee for urban area security initiative grants, $150 million is for port security grants; $150 million is included for rail and transit security grants; $10 million is available for inner city bus security grants for the improvement of ticket identification, the installation of driver shields, the enhancement of emergency communications, and further implementation of passenger screening; $15 million is also included for trucking industry security grants to continue the Highway Watch Grant Program. This committee had the responsibility of trying to help ensure that across the broad range of urban area security concerns funds were available for grants to local areas and to States to deal with these new challenges. The committee believes the Department's practice over the past 2 years to allocate appropriated funds could be improved. We suggested, for example, that they all not be made available early in the fiscal year but to leave some opportunities for later grantmaking authority so that if any new discoveries or intelligence of recent terrorist threat information became available, these funds could be targeted to higher risk areas and where we would get more for our money. It is easy to offer an amendment to double an appropriation, and that is what this amendment does. We have $150 million in the bill for this one particular grant program within the broad urban area security initiative grants. What the Senator from New York is doing is asking that be doubled. You can just about go through this bill, I suggest, and find every incremental amount that is in this bill and pick out one and offer an amendment to double it and make a good persuasive case why it would be better off if we could spend twice as much money as we have allocated for that one activity. That is a pretty easy argument to make. But it is also a cheap shot, and the reason I am calling it a cheap shot is that we have within this Urban Area Security Grant Program $1.2 billion for discretionary grants to high-threat urban areas. The Secretary has to make these decisions on the basis of the applications and the proposals that are submitted to the Department. If we in the Congress are going to go back through the bill and try to second-guess every one of these accounts and double it and ask for a vote, you could easily double the whole cost of the bill. We have a $33.1 billion bill. It probably would be harder to get a vote to double that to $66 billion, but you could make some arguments why we could spend that amount of money. But could we spend it in a thoughtful way that would efficiently and responsibly use the taxpayers' dollars in this area of concern, homeland security? We have had 2 years of experience in writing this bill. Last year, we ended up having to make points of order on the basis of the fact that some of the amendments were in excess of the allocation that was given to this subcommittee. I understand the full committee has been meeting this afternoon during the last hour to review the amount of funding that would be available to each subcommittee of the Senate Appropriations Committee. And I understand soon, if it has not already been done, there will be filed with the Senate this allocation, and this subcommittee will have a limited amount of money to use in writing this bill. I am not suggesting we have gotten the cart before the horse, but I am suggesting that before we vote on this amendment, I want to be sure I know what the allocation amount is for this subcommittee. It is not just targeted to the amendment of the distinguished Senator from New York that I do this, but any amendment that would come in and double an amount without any more justification than it would be good if we could spend twice as much as we are spending. And that is really the argument. Sure, it would be good if we could spend twice as much as we are spending in a lot of areas, but we have to make the choices within a framework of funds available to the committee for a wide range of activities, all of which are very important. We have to choose among programs of the U.S. Coast Guard, programs of the Transportation Security Administration, of the Secret Service, of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and many others whose accounts are funded in this annual appropriations bill. I am hopeful we can withhold action on this particular amendment and let us have an opportunity to review the committee's work. So awaiting the further advice of the chairman of the Appropriations Committee or his staff, Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, I am very pleased to present this appropriations bill to the Senate. It is the culmination of a lot of hard work by all of the members of our subcommittee, as we conducted hearings to review the proposed budget from the Department of Homeland Security, and as we listened to those who have responsibilities for managing the various directorates and other agencies and activities that come within the ambit of the responsibilities of the Homeland Security Department. We learned a lot in the hearings. We learned about new procedures that were being developed and deployed. We learned about new technologies that were being explored. In the bioterrorism area, we were learning about the research that is being done to make our capacity more sophisticated and capable of protecting the health and safety of all Americans from attacks in that area. We have been challenged as we have never been challenged before to look again carefully at how we go about protecting the citizens of our great country. The experience of September 11, of course, stays in our mind as something that is unthinkable. The fact that it did happen is still unbelievable, and we realize that we have the responsibility-- representatives of the people of this country serving in Congress today--to try to get it right so that kind of thing can't happen again. We are blessed to be served in the administration by people such as Tom Ridge, the new Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. The President recommended this new Department be created. The Congress responded. The Governmental Affairs Committee, on which I served at that time, dealt with the challenge of the legal framework of defining the responsibilities of a new department and what activities would come under the Department. We brought together under this one Department 22 different Federal agencies, or at least parts of 22 different agencies. Some, such as the U.S. Coast Guard, were transferred underneath the jurisdictional responsibility of the Department to help make our effort more coherent, more effectively and efficiently managed, and to achieve the goal of making our country safer and more secure for the citizens who live in the United States. I think we have made great progress. This bill specifically provides funding of $33.1 billion for the Department of Homeland Security for this next fiscal year, 2005. This is the second appropriations bill to fund the Department which began its operations short of a year and a half ago. The new Department has made substantial progress to merge the agency functions and the employees who were transferred under its responsibilities and to undertake its new duties to better secure and more effectively protect our great Nation. We also have seen a new system put in place called the US VISIT Program to screen visaholders and to stop potential terrorists and those who may be dangerous, because they have committed crimes in the past, from entering our country to start with. US VISIT, through biometrics and other new innovations, has already identified, apprehended, or arrested more than 400 individuals. Through the science and technology directorate, the Department has aggressively moved forward on the successful testing of the first commercial portal monitors and handheld radiological identifiers to detect the smuggling of materials which could be used to build weapons of mass destruction. Federal air marshals have been deployed. State-of-the-art technologies have been introduced, and cockpit doors have been modified to increase the safety of air travel. I know there can be criticism leveled at the efforts of the Transportation Security Administration which has been the agency identified with the responsibility for overseeing aviation security and many other areas of responsibility. But let me remind Senators--and this is contained in our committee report--I invite the attention of the Senate to the report, on page 31, where we talk about aviation security. My good friend, the distinguished Senator from West Virginia, mentioned people who might bring in bombs or material that can be used as explosives to blow up planes and otherwise harm us. The Transportation Security Administration aviation security account [in this legislation] provides for Federal aviation security by employing the most efficient screening of all passengers and baggage, deployment of onsite law enforcement, continuation of a uniform set of background requirements for airport and airline personnel, deployment of the most current explosive detection technology, and creation of a model workplace. The aviation security activities include funding for Federal and private contract passenger and baggage screeners, including personnel compensation and benefits, training, and human resource services; passenger checkpoint support; air cargo security; procurement and maintenance of explosive detection systems; and checkpoint support. I suggest that the $4,386,083,000 for aviation security contained in this bill is designed to meet the needs we have for improved and safer air travel, working with the airlines who are spending their own money in many of these and other areas. I suggest we have the safest air transportation system in the world. And we are going to continue to monitor the activities. We are going to continue to engage in oversight and interaction with the Federal agencies involved, as well as Department of Homeland Security officials, to see that we stay on course and that we continue to upgrade, improve, and take advantage of the latest technologies to guarantee the safety and security of American citizens. Looking at another area, efforts have been undertaken to increase our stockpile of antibiotics, vaccines, and other medications to protect Americans in the event of a terrorist attack and to identify and develop new countermeasures to protect Americans against new biological threats. Today our first responders, those who work at the fire departments, the police departments, the emergency medical centers, have been provided with resources from the Federal Government to buy necessary equipment, to increase training to better protect our communities throughout the country. Including the resources in this bill we are presenting today to the Senate, over $12 billion will have been appropriated to our State and local partners across the country, over $2.5 billion to firefighters alone. The Department of Homeland Security has made important strides in this last year. The bill we present to you today will allow the Department to continue to build on its success and make our Nation even more secure. If Senators look at the provisions in the bill, they will see that it reflects suggestions made by Senators on both sides of the aisle. This is a bipartisan bill. It is not a Republican bill or a Democratic bill, it is an American bill. It is a bill to protect the safety and security of all Americans. Our committee held hearings and listened to every suggestion made by all Senators for the levels of appropriations for all of these activities. This is the second year of this bill, as I said, but I think we have made important strides forward. I particularly thank again the distinguished Senator from West Virginia for his cooperation, his support, and his assistance during the development of this bill and the conduct of our hearings and the presentation of the final work product to the Senate today. I am going to close my remarks--and I will be prepared to receive any suggestions for changes in the bill or amendments or other statements from Senators--by quoting from something Tom Ridge said with which I was particularly impressed. Our Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security said: Homeland security is about the integration of a nation, everyone pledged to freedom's cause, everyone its protector, and everyone its beneficiary. It's about the integration of people and technology to make us smarter, safer, more sophisticated, and better protected. It's about the integration of our national efforts, not one department or one organization, but everyone tasked with our Nation's protection. Every day, we work to make America more secure. Every day, the memories of September 11th inspire us to live our vision of preserving our freedoms, protecting America, enjoying our liberties, and securing the homeland.

Mr. COCHRAN. I am happy to compliment the distinguished Senator for his description of the damages in Florida. We are all keenly aware, because the of the images on television, and the description in the newspapers, conversations with friends and family members in that State, how terrible those storms have been and the devastation that has been caused. One thing that reminds me of the history of my own State is the terrible force of the wave action. I can remember when Hurricane Camille struck the Mississippi Gulf Coast in, I think, 1969, that storm did more damage than any other hurricane that had ever hit that part of the gulf of Mexico. I recall going down to the gulf of Mexico and visiting that area, seeing how devastating the damage was and how long it took to recover from it. As a matter of fact there are still scars. There is one shrimp boat about 2 blocks inland now that is sitting there as a reminder of the force of that hurricane. The fact of the matter is, and the Senator is correct, the $2 billion the Congress has approved for a supplemental appropriation for the Federal Emergency Management Agency is targeted just to the Disaster Relief Fund. This is, as the Senator knows, to provide emergency assistance of food, shelter, debris cleanup--taking care of the emergency situation that exists. That fund was going to be exhausted this morning when the President signed the bill appropriating this additional money. So, with this funding, that account is taken care of. As the Senator indicates, there is a lot of other damage that is outside the jurisdiction of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The Department of Agriculture and other Federal agencies may have responsibilities and they may not have sufficient funds to meet all the needs for which some people are entitled to reimbursement or some kind of disaster relief under Federal law. For that reason the President indicated in his request to Congress which he submitted on September 6--and I'll read this. He said: The enclosed request requires immediate action by the Congress to ensure that the immediate response efforts to these recent disasters continue uninterrupted. I anticipate making a further request in the coming days that will provide for a comprehensive response and recovery effort addressing the impact of both of these hurricanes. In addition, federal government agencies will continue their response and recovery efforts using existing resources and programs. What we get from that is the President is submitting and, we have been advised by the President's staff, that in the coming days there will be another supplemental appropriations bill requested by the President. It will not be the bill that we are considering today, though. This is the annual appropriations bill that funds the entire Department of Homeland Security, Coast Guard, the Secret Service--the 22 various agencies that are combined within the ambit of the Department of Homeland Security. I suggest to the Senator we would welcome any suggestions he has for inclusions in the additional supplemental that will be before the Congress soon, at the request of the President.

Mr. COCHRAN

Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the following Appropriations Committee staff members and detailees be granted the privilege of the floor during the consideration of the fiscal year 2005 Homeland Security appropriations bill and any votes that may occur in relation thereto: Less Spivey, Carol Cribbs, Kimberly Nelson, James Hayes, Avery Forbes, Brian Glackin, Chip Walgren, Scott Nance, Alexa Sewell, Peter Edge, and Sean MacKenzie.