Speech #1090123831

Mr. President. for those of us who have served in the Senate for the past 5 years. the irony of the amendments before us today is inescapable. Had the Bush administration fulfilled its promises over those years and lived up to its rhetoric about bolstering our Nations border security. there would be no need for the emergency supplemental spending amendments proposed by the distinguished chairman of the Homeland Security Subcommittee of the Appropriations Committee and the Democratic leader. The administrations failure on this front has not gone unnoticed. In December of 2005. the 9/11 Commissions Report Card gave the Bush administration a -D grade for its efforts on border security. and specifically. for its failures in fostering international collaboration to improve border security. This is particularly disappointing in light of the grandiose statements in February 2001 in which the President heralded a new era of cooperation with President Vicente Fox on immigration and border issues. For all its talk and swagger about security. the BushCheney administration has not lived up to its public promises. Just last month we heard about nuclear material being successfully smuggled across our borders In a sting operation. Not long after that bombshell. a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services employee. Michael Maxwell. testified before a House subcommittee about an astonishing culture of corruption. and misdirected priorities in the agency within the Department of Homeland Security charged with processing immigration applications. For an administration that has regularly touted its commitment to national security. it is incomprehensible that the type of behavior Mr. Maxwell testified about was occurring in one of our most critical border security agencies. You do not have to take my word for It or read the New York Times to see criticism of this administrations competence when it comes to border security. Take just one days worth of reports from the Washington Times. one of the most conservative papers in the country. On Tuesday. that paper ran a front page story in which it reported that U.S. law enforcement officials say that "[h]undreds of Mexican nationals who wear governmentissued uniforms. carry official identification cards and are authorized to use weapons are helping smugglers move tons of drugs into the United States." This follows numerous reports of uniformed incursions into the United States. On page 3 we read that the Homeland Security Departments inspector general has completed a 22month investigation "into Syrian nationals suspected of practicing to hijack a plane during a DetroittoLos Angeles flight." The inspector generals public summary says that the Department needs to better coordinate information on suspicious passengers. and on the conflicting jurisdictions of the FBI and Federal Air Marshal Service that can compromise investigations of inflight incidents. Because the 40page inspector general report is classified. its detailed contents have not been made public. but it involves an incident from June 2004. According to the paper. the suspects were traveling under expired visas on oneway tickets bought with cash. but that immigration officials had failed to report to the airport to detain them. Then on page 13. Tuesdays Washington Times reports about the case of a highranking Iranian official travels in and out of the United States on a U.S. green card. even though he carries an Iranian passport and is reported to be "an economics and technology aide to Irans top nuclear negotiator." and is reported to have "joined the Iranian government last year" and to be a "highranking Iranian official." The three incidents I have just described are all possible border security scandals reported in just one newspaper on just 1 day. Just as gas prices for American consumers have doubled during the BushCheney administration so. too. have the number of undocumented immigrants within the United States doubled. I do not think that I need to remind the American people that the same Government Department that so mishandled Katrina and its aftermath is in charge of border security. Nor will any of us forget that after 9/11 the immigration authorities were still sending cordial correspondence to dead suicide hijackers. Here in Congress. we have met the Presidents calls for increased border enforcement with authorizations across the board. Indeed. we have often acted. as we are now. to provide additional authorities and resources that the administration did not request in order to try to force progress on border security. The administration. however. has not lived up to its end of the bargain. Despite the funding mandates of the intelligence reform bill that provided for 2.000 new Border Patrol agents annually. the Presidents budget request for 2006 would have provided enough funding to add only 210 Border Patrol agents. That is 10 percent of what Congress mandated. and not a single new agent would have been assigned to help protect our northern border. What the President has said and what the administration has done couldnt be more different. He has talked about border security. but his priorities in the budget proposals he has sent to Congress shows that his administration values tax cuts for the rich over robust border security. It is incomprehensible that almost 5 years after the horrific attacks of September 11. only 6 percent of shipping containers entering U.S. ports are screened. Despite the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission and despite Coast Guard recommendations that $5.4 billion is needed for port security over a 10year period. the Republican Congress has appropriated only $800 million in grants during the last 5 years. I commend Senator BYRD for the port security additions he has made over time and to this bill. Following its failed effort to approve the Dubai Ports deal. the administration has recently made a big show of arrests of undocumented workers at one company. Ironically. those recent raids emphasize how little this administration has done over the last 5 years in terms of interior enforcement and enforcement of prohibitions against employers illegal hirings. Where is the Presidents leadership on these critical issues? 152. Pt. 5 6027 I was pleased to see an increase in the Presidents proposed budget to allow for the hiring of 1.500 or more Border Patrol agents in 2007. The Judiciary Committee reported a bipartisan bill that calls for even more agents and investigators than that. But even the 1.500 new agents proved to be another hollow promise from the Bush administration.