ON SIXTH ANNIVERSARY OF 9/11, REP. ANDREWS HAILS NEW LAW TO PROTECT AMERICA FROM TERRORISM

The 9/11 Bill Is One of the Most Critical Pieces of Legislation
To Be Enacted by the 110th Congress

At the sixth anniversary of 9/11, the 110th Congress has just enacted H.R. 1, a sweeping new security bill to protect America from terrorism – which finally enacts the recommendations of the bipartisan 9/11 Commission into law.  These recommendations were submitted to Congress by the 9/11 Commission back in July 2004.   

On this sixth anniversary of 9/11, an appropriate way to honor the memories of the nearly 3,000 Americans who were killed is to recommit ourselves to ensuring that such a terrible tragedy never happens again.  One of the key tools we will have in protecting America from terrorism is the sweeping new security bill signed into law by President Bush on August 3, which finally enacts the recommendations of the bipartisan 9/11 Commission into law.

This comprehensive, bipartisan legislation will do many things to make our nation stronger, our cities and towns more secure, and our families safer.

A nuclear bomb detonated in a container in a port in large U.S. city could kill millions. The only way to protect Americans living near our ports is to ensure that all U.S.-bound containers are scanned before they leave overseas ports.  And yet currently only 5 percent are scanned.  This bill will make Americans safer by requiring 100 percent scanning of U.S.-bound seaborne containers before they leave a foreign port within five years.

In addition, about 3 million tons of air cargo is transported on passenger aircraft each year and yet most of it is not screened.  This bill will make the millions of Americans who fly each year safer by requiring 100 percent screening of cargo on passenger aircraft within three years.

This bill also strengthens our efforts to prevent terrorists from acquiring WMD – including beefing up the Nunn-Lugar program that secures nuclear materials in the former Soviet Union.

Furthermore, it is shameful that six years after 9/11, most first responders across the country still don’t have equipment enabling them to communicate with one another.  This bill makes getting the first responders the interoperable communications equipment they need a top priority – creating a stand-alone grant program at DHS, authorized at $400 million a year.

The bill also includes a number of other long-overdue steps to better protect America from terrorism, including the following:

• Quickly accelerates the installation of advanced (in-line) electronic explosive screening systems for checked baggage at the nation’s airports;
• Improves explosive detection at passenger screening checkpoints at airports;
• Provides that homeland security grants will be allocated primarily on the basis of risk;
• Authorizes more than $4 billion over the next four years to improve the security of mass transit, rail, and buses.
• Takes aggressive steps to better prevent terrorist travel;
• Improves the security of our critical infrastructure – such as our dams, our bridges, our power grids, and our telecommunications systems; and
• Strengthens intelligence and information sharing with local law enforcement, including strengthening state and local intelligence “fusion” centers.

This 9/11 bill is one of the most critical pieces of legislation that will be enacted by the 110th Congress. All of us in Congress have an obligation to the American people to do all within our power to keep them safe.  We will now perform strong oversight over the Department of Homeland Security to ensure that it follows through and implements all of the key provisions of this critical law.  And we will continue to listen to the experts to determine what additional steps we can take to continue better protecting Americans from terrorism.  

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