Ted Stevens

Mr. STEVENS

Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, I understand the Senator from New Jersey. He is really trying hard, and I am trying hard, to work on this problem. Let me tell the Senator this: 37.5 percent of the screeners at Dulles turned over last year; 37.5 percent left. The reason is they are handling bags; they don't like the hours, as you mentioned; they work hours in accordance with the shifts based on the number of flights, not in terms of--it is not a steady workload is what I am saying. So they might be there 10 hours, but they are working 6 of that 10 hours and very hard in those 6 hours. The turnover rate is enormous. I do think the difficulty is not in the cap; the difficulty is in the money. We have to impress on our people in the appropriations process to provide more money. We are trying to see if we can find some way to justify higher salaries. In some places, the salaries are enormous for small airports. In others where you deal with the numbers of passengers at Dulles or New York airports or Los Angeles, those airports are totally overworked, and the turnover in those big airports is enormous, almost 40 percent a year. You have to consider the fact that these replacements have to be cleared under the clearance process with regard to security. They have to be cleared people; they cannot be people who just walk in off the street. It takes months to clear one of them. You can lift the cap all you want, but you are not going to get any more than 45,000 in the next year. Mr. President, let me tell my colleague this: We will just accept the amendment because it won't make any difference in terms of the number of screeners who are available. That is what my staff just told me. Why am I arguing? Because no matter what the ceiling is, we won't have any more screeners.

Mr. STEVENS. Have a vote on it?

Mr. STEVENS. I will give you a vote and move to table. I will tell my friend, this isn't a solution to the problem. The solution is in more money and finding a way that we can get people who are cleared to take the job and keep it. You can't put just anybody in there handling those bags. If you get a terrorist in there, they could add something rather than see whether there is something in the bags. So they all have to be cleared. This ceiling is not an issue.

Mr. STEVENS. I want to work this out with my friend to have the time for a vote that he wishes to have. Could we have this vote at 5 o'clock? Is that all right? We will ask for the yeas and nays with the understanding that we will vote at 5 o'clock.

Mr. STEVENS. I join him in requesting the yeas and nays and ask unanimous consent that the vote take place at 5 o'clock.

Mr. STEVENS

Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the reading of the amendment be dispensed with.

Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent Senator Clinton be added as a cosponsor to the Stevens second-degree amendment to Senator McCain's amendment No. 4922.

Mr. STEVENS. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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

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

Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, I send an amendment to the desk and ask that it be considered to the pending bill.

Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, I send to the desk an amendment proposed by Senator DeMint for Senator Inouye and myself, to the amendment numbered 4921, proposed by Senator DeMint. I ask it be considered.

Mr. STEVENS. I ask unanimous consent the reading of the amendment be dispensed with.

Mr. STEVENS. I ask unanimous consent this be considered a complete substitute for the DeMint amendment.

Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, this second-degree amendment offered by Senator Inouye and myself, with Senators McCain and Lautenberg as cosponsors, simply adds the additional rail security provisions of S. 1052, the Commerce Committee's Transportation Security Improvement Act of 2005, to the McCain amendment. The provisions in the second-degree amendment address rail worker security training, rail security public awareness, hazardous materials threat mitigation, railcar tracking, and update a few of the provisions that are in Senator McCain's provisions. Taken together with Senator McCain's Rail Security Act of 2005, which Senator McCain offered to this bill, this amendment and Senator McCain's bill will form the rail security title of S. 1052 that was unanimously supported by the Commerce Committee. It is supported by both the railroads and the rail workers, and I urge its adoption. I again say it is an amendment cosponsored by Senator Inouye, myself, Senator McCain, and Senator Lautenberg.

Mr. STEVENS. I urge the adoption of the second-degree amendment.

Mr. STEVENS. I now ask for approval of Senator McCain's amendment, as amended.

Mr. STEVENS. I ask unanimous consent to reconsider both those actions at the same time. I ask that they be reconsidered and the motions be laid on the table.

Mr. STEVENS. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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

Mr. STEVENS. I am pleased to offer this amendment on behalf of Senator DeMint. The second-degree amendment clarifies some issues in the legislation and improves this important legislation. It has been agreed to now by Senator Inouye and myself and by Senator DeMint. I think we are closer to passing the WARN Act. We have been working for 3 years through the Homeland Security and appropriations bill to move DHS to improve the national alerting system. This amendment is a large step forward. If the worst happens and there is a successful attack on one of our ports, we need a tool to effectively alert communities surrounding the port. The purpose of this amendment is to do just that: to move the emergency alert system out of the area of broadcast radio and television into the wireless era. We need to give the Nation an alerting system that harnesses all the capabilities of the digital age. When disaster strikes, we know not everyone will be listening to the radio or television, but almost all Americans will be carrying a mobile phone, a Blackberry, or a PDA. There are over 200 million wireless subscribers in the United States. This is crucial because regardless of when or where disaster strikes, be it American seaports, a rail terminal, or an airport, minutes save lives. This amendment will provide a tool for emergency managers at all levels of Government--Federal, State, or local--so they can quickly and effectively reach all affected individuals with specific lifesaving instructions. In addition to the threat posed by terrorist attacks, this system, the system created by this amendment, will give our managers the ability to alert communities of other hazards such as natural disasters or manmade accidents. It is already funded. I worked during last year's budget reconciliation bill to provide $106 million for this program. I urge our colleagues to vote for the amendment and move the Nation one step forward to having a modern public safety alerting system. I urge the adoption of this second-degree amendment.

Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote, and I move to lay that motion on the table. The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.

Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, we will shortly have a request for a vote on this amendment, as amended. Hopefully, it will take place around noon tomorrow. I know of no other business we have to come before us tonight. We will await the wrapup statement to be sent to us by the leader's office. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. STEVENS. I concur with Senator Inouye and Senator DeMint.

Mr. STEVENS

Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, there are moments in every lifetime which defy words. For me, those moments are the attack on Pearl Harbor, the day President Kennedy was assassinated, the Good Friday earthquake in Alaska, my own airplane crash in 1978, and the day I viewed the Exxon Valdez oilspill. My most recent and most vivid memory is the helicopter trip I took over Ground Zero with my good friend, Senator Inouye, on September 13, 2001. The total impact of what Senator Inouye and I saw just shocked the two of us. We both went through World War II and saw a lot of trauma, a lot of destruction. But nothing was more stark in terms of our memories, particularly mine, than what I saw that day in New York. Embedded in my mind then were the questions: Who would do something like this? And why? We would soon learn the answers, and those answers changed our Nation forever. September 11, 2001, was one of our country's darkest days, but the worst in our enemies brought out the best in our citizens. Their efforts reflected the words of the author Henry James: We work in the dark, we do what we can, we give what we have. Following those attacks, Americans did everything they could to help those directly affected. Those of us in Congress almost immediately made $40 billion available to initiate recovery. Since then, our country has been fortunate. We have met the terrorists abroad rather than here on our soil, and we have accomplished this in a way consistent with our ideals. Democracy is harder to move than a dictatorship. It moves slowly, but it moves surely. There is much more work left to do, but so far, we have been able to prevent another massive terrorist attack on our country. The terrorists who attacked us 5 years ago thought they could defeat us. They questioned our resolve and our dedication to our principles. They were wrong. Our resolve is strong, and it has brought about a different response than the terrorists anticipated. The past 5 years have been a proving ground for our country's courage and commitment. Today I am reminded of the words once spoken by President Reagan. He said this: Perhaps you and I have lived with this miracle too long to be properly appreciative. Freedom is a fragile thing and is never more than one generation from extinction. It is not ours by inheritance; it must be fought for and defended constantly by each generation, for it comes only once to a people. Those who have known freedom, and then lost it, have never known it again. Today we pause to remember those we have lost over the past 5 years, men and women who sacrificed everything so that this miracle, the great American experiment, could continue. Our thoughts and prayers are with them and with their families. And we will remember forever September 11.