Senate Proceeding on Jul 7th, 2009 :: 1:46:00 to 1:59:00
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1:45:57 to 1:46:18( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: mr. voinovich: i thank senator durbin, and i would like to acowledge -- the presiding officer: the senator the senator from ohio. mr. voinovich: -- the cooperation that we received from senator byrd and his staff and we're pleased that senator byrd is out the the hospital and recuperating at home.

1:46:00 to 1:59:00( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: George Voinovich

1:46:19 to 1:46:39( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: i appreciate the fact t stepped in to pinch-hit for him this morning. i would like to concentrate on some of the highlights that i think neeto be underscored. the bill recommends a total of $44.3 billion in appropriations to support programs and activities in the departmt of

1:46:40 to 1:47:00( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: homeland security. of this amount, $42.7 billion is for discretionary spending. this is roughly $145 million less than the discretionary request and is consistent with the subcommittee spending allocation. in addition, $1.4 billion is

1:47:01 to 1:47:21( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: provided for coast guard retired pay as the only m and $241.5 billion is provided for coast guard overseas contingency operations to be transferred to the coast guard. and instead of being appropriated in the defense appropriations bill, is being

1:47:22 to 1:47:42( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: appropriated here. the bill includes significant resources for border and enforcement of our immigration laws, for continued improvements in security of our nation's airports, for the coast guard's operations and deep-water program, recapitalization efforts and for

1:47:43 to 1:48:04( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: helping our citizens prepare and recover from natural disasters, and for equipment and training our nation's first responders. senator durbin has indicated there is much in this bill to recommend. it funds a number of the department's highest priorities at or above the levels, and i'm pleased that the secretary of the department of

1:48:05 to 1:48:26( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: homeland security understands that we have tried to the very best of our ability to fund her priorities. i'll not list all of the bill's funded recmendations, but note some of them. funding is p security, including the funds to

1:48:27 to 1:48:49( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: support 20,063 border patrol agents, 33,400 detention bets, and $800 million for continued work on the border improved radio communications. starting in fiscal year 2005 significant increases have been provided for border security and immigration enforcement. this bill alone provides an

1:48:50 to 1:49:12( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: increase of $880 million from the fiscal y excluding emergency appropriations. progress has been made with these investments. fewer people are illegally crossing our borders. this can be seen in the decrease of apprehensions of aliens along our borders.

1:49:18 to 1:49:43( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: from over words we've made it more difficult for 475,000 illegal aliens to cross our border. more fencing and personnel have allowed the border patrol to increase the miles over which has effective from 241 miles in ofbgt 2005 to -- in october of 2005 to 600

1:49:44 to 1:50:05( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: in october of 2008. additional agents detention beds have allowed customs enforcement to increase total removal of aliens, from 246,000 removals in fiscal year 2005 to 347,000 in fiscal year 2008. we are making progress, but we still have a long way to go,

1:50:06 to 1:50:26( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: it will be at great expense. in particular, i'm pleased the bill request to implement a biometric air exit capability. as the chief sponsor of the secure travel a counterterrorism partnership act of 2007, expanding and improving the visa waiver program is one

1:50:27 to 1:50:47( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: of m the visa waiver program has become an important national security tool because under that law, countries who participate in the program are required to share information on terrorists and criminals, report lost and stolen passports and maintain high counterterrorism and document security practices. since enactment of

1:50:48 to 1:51:09( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: eight new countries have been accepted io the program and we're seeing great improvement in the security practices of the 27 countries that were already partic i've just returned from lithuania and latvia whe i was joined by several other members of the senate, including senator durbin. two countries that

1:51:10 to 1:51:30( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: admitted into the visa waiver program. from a public diplomacy point of view, it has been a home run and has been well received by government officials and citizens alike. i was up in latvia, and they pointed out to me that general mullen was in latvia, which should have been the biggest thing in the newspaper that day

1:51:31 to 1:51:51( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: that he was there, or the next day, reporting on his being there. and the thing that just blew him away was the fact that latvia was approved for visa waiver status. it was so well received by the people of latvia. i must note, however, the two areas which continue to concern to me. one is the way this

1:51:52 to 1:52:13( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: administration has budgeted for disasters. the president's fiscal yea 2010 request for disaster relief is only $2 we know now from fema estimates that this is not enough to pay for the declared disasters already on the books. based on current needs, an appropriation of $5.8 billion is required. i understand we cannot afford

1:52:14 to 1:52:35( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: that within the discretionary spending of ts bill, but i am hopeful that this is addressed in future budgets. this administration has worked hard to break the cycle of requesting emergency funding for the wars in iraq and afghanistan. yet, no one has suggested fixing the way we budget disasters.

1:52:36 to 1:52:56( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: last year alone, $11.7 billion in emergency supplemental appropriations were provided for disaster relief. we cannot continue to kick the can down the road, relying on supplemental emergency appropriations to pay for known costs. katrina was a catastrophic event. exceptions were made to

1:52:57 to 1:53:17( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: speed assistance to those struggling to recover from the enormity of the losses. but now some of these exceptions to the regulations are becoming the standard rather than the exception to the rule. this kind -- it's kind of interesting katrina, i comment that had we

1:53:18 to 1:53:38( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: were doing some things that we ordinarily don't do in a fema environment and predicted that what we were doing in would become the role model for other disasters that have been experienced by state. and the fact of the matter is more and more states now are asking for more and more fema money because they're saying you did it in katrina.

1:53:39 to 1:54:00( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: why can why can'tou do it wherever else we have a disaster? this has got to change if we're going to handle federal spending and do something about the deficit. in aition, this bill provides almost $16 and immigration enforcement. and that

1:54:01 to 1:54:21( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: coast guard funding to protect our maritime borders. this is a 99.6% increase for u.s. customs and border protection, u.s. immigration and customs enforcement, and u.s. visit from fiscal year 2004 levels in the first department of homeland security appropriations. a significant increase.

1:54:22 to 1:54:45( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: our country should know that. they have been talking for a long time that we haven't been doing the job in securing i must tell them that we are doing a much, much better job than ever before because we're allocating the resources necessary to get the job done. i've often wondered, though, if there was another way we could secure our borders and deal with

1:54:46 to 1:55:08( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: the 11 million immigrants other than by drastica for border enforcement. in 2008 the u.s. removed 347,000 individuals. in fiscal year 2009, billion is available to locate, detain and remove unauthorized aliens. at the current pace of removal,

1:55:09 to 1:55:29( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: it could req investment of $272 billion in years to locate and remove the estimate the 11 unauthorized aliens in this country. we must ask whether we are willing or can afford to make that kind of investment enforcement rather than investing time in

1:55:30 to 1:55:50( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: immigration reform. i appreciate very much the courtesies of the distinguished senator from west virginia, as i mentioned, and his staff and all the members of the appropriations committee during our appropriation of this bill. i believe it reflects our careful consideration of the president's budget request for the department and our best efforts to aress the department's resource

1:55:51 to 1:56:12( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: i look forward to considering amendments which senators may suggest to this bill and to work throughout the appropriations process to ensure the department has the funds to carry out its duties and responsibilities. in closing, madam president, i'd just like to point out that the president's budget was received on may 7 and the appropriations committee is working diligently to move forward o

1:56:13 to 1:56:33( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: of our 12 appropriations bills. two of the 12 fiscal year appropriations bills were reported on june 15 and two more reported on june 25. another five are scheduled to be considered and reported by the committee this week, two this afternoon and another three on

1:56:34 to 1:56:55( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: the house considered and adopted its version of the fiscal year 2010 department of homeland security appropriations bill june 24. it's unfortunate that senate consideration of this bill could not have occurred that same week, which would have put us in a position now to go to conference with the house. expeditious consideration of the fiscal year

1:56:56 to 1:57:16( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: bills by the senate is required if the congress is to complete its work on all 12 appropriations 1. i have long been concerned about our failure to complete our appropriations work on time and the and i intend to speak at greater length on that during our consideration of this bill.

1:57:17 to 1:57:38( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: but i do letter dated march 24, 2009, to the majority leader, which included the signatures republican members, asked that the legislative schedule for this session -- quote -- "allocate an appropriate amount of time for the senate to consider, vote and initiate the conference process on each of the 12 appropriations bills independently through a deliberative and transpare

1:57:39 to 1:57:59( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: process on the sene floor." end of quote. the letter goes on to point out, for a variety of reasons over theast several years, the senate has failed to debate, amend, and pass each of bills separately prior to the end of the fiscal year, which for a former governor and mayor i can't understand. far too often this has resulted

1:58:00 to 1:58:21( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: in the creation of omnibus appropriations bills that have been brought to the floor so late in the fiscal year that senators have been forced to either pass a continuing resolution, shut down the government, or consider an omnibus these omnibus bills have not allowed for adequate public review and have clouded what should otherwise be a very transparent process. the letter further points out that president obama, on march

1:58:22 to 1:58:42( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: 11, said he expects future spending bills to be -- quote -- "debated and voted on in an orderly way and sent to his desk without delay or obstruction so that we don't face another massive last-minute like the one that we had this year." so let us proceed with this bil and dispose of the amendments

1:58:43 to 1:59:00( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: senators may wish to offer without unnecessary delay, to allow us to complete our appropriations work this session. and i'd like to add that it is incumbent -- incumbent -- on our side of the aisle to make sure amendments are relevant and germane. mr. president --