Mr. President, I rise today in strong support of the amendment offered by my friend, the Senator from Connecticut, Mr. Lieberman, to address shortfalls in homeland security funding in the President's FY05 Budget Request. As a cosponsor, I believe this amendment would go a long way to ensuring that our homeland security is not shortchanged.
I am disappointed that the President's budget request cuts taxes for the wealthy at the expense of funding homeland security programs. Our amendment would restore $2.5 billion in proposed budget cuts and includes an additional $7 billion to strengthen existing programs. It would also reduce the deficit by offsetting spending with tax cut reductions for those earning more than $1 million a year.
Our amendment takes an important step to prepare our first responders by restoring $1 billion for the State Homeland Security Grant Program which provides first responders critical funding for emergency planning, training, and equipment. This program is crucial for all states, especially states like Hawaii with smaller populations, since a portion of this funding is evenly distributed among all states.
Our amendment also takes important steps to ensure that homeland security funding is allocated where it is needed most. It provides $1 billion in much needed funding to address first responder shortfalls for interoperable communications equipment and $600 million for hospitals and public health agencies to respond to emergencies.
I am equally disappointed that the President's budget request fails to address the serious funding gaps for port security. In fact, the American Association of Port Authorities has expressed great concern that the President's FY05 budget contains no federal funds to meet port security requirements.
The amendment takes important steps to secure our ports and our economy by providing $1 billion for port and container security and Coast Guard modernization. This funding is critical to Hawaii, where 98 percent of imported goods are transported by sea. This is not just a matter of security for Hawaii or coastal states, but the security of our nation. According to a Council on Foreign Relations Homeland Security Task Force report entitled, "America - Still Unprepared, Still in Danger," if our nation's ports suffered a weapons of mass destruction attack, "the response right now would be to shut the [entire] system down at an enormous cost to the economies of the United States and its trade partners." The Task Force report estimates that if American ports were to be closed to containerized cargo for longer than three to four weeks, global shipping container trade would grind to a halt.
Our amendment also includes $500 million for aviation security, which would provide for systems to screen air cargo and passengers for explosives. This is an important step towards ensuring adequate funding for security devices needed to detect dangerous material and to prevent a potential crisis.
We must ensure that our homeland security is not shortchanged. This is why I urge my colleagues to support this amendment.
