Speech #1100058095

The 3.000 new agents funded by the bill will mean over 17.800 brave men and women will patrol our borders by the end of 2008. And at the same time. we will increase northern border funding by 33 percent. and 500 new agents will be placed there. As important as this is. border security efforts must never blind us to the deep connection we share with our neighbor to the north. Ours is a 200yearold relationship that has benefited both of our nations immensely. In fact. I often say that people of northern border communities dont see Canadian towns and cities as being in another country. instead. we see it as one nation with a river running through it. The travel and trade which cross the northern border every single day between America and Canada are critical to our economy and to the northern economic security. We must never sacrifice our relationship with Canada in a misguided attempt to increase border security. I have long said that economic security and physical security are not mutually exclusive. we can and we must have both. Unfortunately. the approach to northern border security currently advocated by the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of State is flawed. The Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative. of WHTI. will choke off legitimate travel and trade and sacrifice local economies unnecessarily by imposing onerous bordercrossing requirements. WHTI. while wellintentioned. is simply unacceptable in its current form.