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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.

Our ports and our borders are the most unprotected fronts in the war on terror.

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.

Our ports are a vital link in national security and it is extremely dangerous to be considering their sale to the United Arab Emirates government.

And let us be frank, the security threats that emanate from our ports come from foreign cargo.

Our ports are owned by local governments who are responsible for the ports. It is the Coast Guard and Customs that provide security. The federal government will never outsource our security.

Port Security is one of our weakest security links, and it must be one of our highest priorities.

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.

While port security remains one of our single greatest vulnerabilities, it makes little sense to give operational control of our ports to a foreign nation without first doing proper investigations.

Michael Chertoff and the Department of Homeland Security, they have the primary responsibility of ensuring that our ports are secure.