Last week in the Homeland Security Committee, Republicans were against port security; and today, one week after Democrats unveiled our Real Security Agenda, they're for it.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
Ports are the gaping hole in America's homeland security.
House Democrats have tried to increase port security funding on this House floor four times over the last 4 years, and House Republicans have defeated our efforts every single time.
We know that the most fundamental responsibility of our Federal Government is to ensure the safety of its people and to protect and ensure our National security. And clearly port security has been left in limbo.
This Congress has promised all manner of border security and port security to the tune of billions of dollars... yet we have - to date - funded our promises for port security at only $900 million. That's quite a distance between what we say and what we actually do.
Michael Chertoff and the Department of Homeland Security, they have the primary responsibility of ensuring that our ports are secure.
Port Security is one of our weakest security links, and it must be one of our highest priorities.
Republicans rejected calls for amnesty and we've fought efforts to provide illegal aliens with taxpayer funded benefits. The American people are far closer to our Republican approach to border security than they are to Nancy Pelosi's approach.
I am speaking as a Republican now, not a national security expert, but I believe that my party needs to come together.
The American people have every right to be outraged with the administration's approval of the UAE port deal. It is time the people's House make the security of our Nation's ports a priority.
Our ports and our borders are the most unprotected fronts in the war on terror.
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