Speech #1090153645

I believe our Nation needs to secure its points of entry and we need to do it now. Specifically. I believe we should prevent any additional countries from joining the United States Visa Waiver Program until we have the technical and human resources to secure our points of entry. And that is my amendment. I do not believe our Nation can afford the security risk of allowing more visitors to the United States without screening them prior to arrival. This amendment would prevent funds from being used to negotiate additional visa waiver countries. Mr. Chairman. the State Department would not be using funds to negotiate new visa waivers until the machinereadable and tamperresistant biometric identification standards on passports that were mandated by the PATRIOT Act and the 9/11 Act in 2004 as the cornerstone of this entryexit system are fully operational. There are currently 27 visa waiver countries. and I believe it is simply too risky to negotiate additional countries without first having our security screening system in place. Mr. Chairman. we cannot allow additional visa waiver countries which could provide more opportunities for terrorists to breach a loophole in our security. How long will it be before Immigration Customs Enforcement. ICE. the Air Marshals. or TSA. Transportation Security Administration. misses the next Richard Reid? Mr. Chairman. I understand concerns about how spending or limiting the Visa Waiver Program may adversely affect cultural exchange or possibly hurt the airline and tourist industry. However. at what point are we willing to risk security for new pen pals and business as usual? Habib Zacarias Moussaoui. a French citizen of Moroccan descent and a name we all know very well. used his French passport without a U.S. visa on February 23. 2001. to fly from London to Chicago and on to Oklahoma City where he began flight training at an aviation school. On August 16. 2001. the INS arrested Moussaoui because he remained in the United States well beyond the 90 days allowed for the Visa Waiver Program entrants and was in violation of the requirement that Visa Waiver Program travelers enter for business or tourism. Had INS and law enforcement not been on top of their game. Moussaoui could have been a part of the 9/11 attacks. thanks to a visa waiver. In fact. we have referred to him as the twentieth hijacker. So. Mr. Chairman. the Visa Waiver Program was only designed to be a temporary program for a small and a select group of nations. starting with the UK. Japan and France in 1986. Today. 27 countries are eligible under visa waivers. opening the door widely for unscreened terrorists to attack the United States. Twentyseven countries are enough to keep ICE and TSA exceedingly busy. Do we really need to fund efforts to add a 28th and 29th country to their list of responsibilities?