Congressman Cohen Supports Homeland Security Appropriations Bill

Mr. Chairman, the Homeland Security Appropriations bill addresses not only the threat of terrorist activity, but funding for States and communities to confront the threat and real consequences of natural disasters and emergency situations.

Hurricane Katrina was one disaster. The response of the Federal Government to Katrina was another disaster. While the world watched, our citizens were left to fend for themselves. I live in a city that sits at the epicenter of the New Madrid fault zone. Historically, this area has been the site of some of the largest earthquakes in North America. Scientists believe we could be overdue for a large earthquake and through research and public awareness may be able to prevent terrible losses of life and property.

Also, Memphis is built on the banks of the Mississippi, and as every river town knows, we must be vigilant to ensure that the river remains our friend. And Tennessee is one of the States most frequently hit with tornadoes and destructive straight-line winds.

I am pleased to support the Homeland Security Appropriations bill because it provides for the needs of our citizens to ensure that their government will be vigilant in protecting them not only from terrorists, imagined and real, but by preparing for emergencies and being there in the aftermath of disasters. We don't need to just say, there's been a "heckuva job" done, but we need to make sure that the job is done.

Mr. Chairman, we were here until 2 o'clock this morning because of dilatory moves on the other side. We need to come together and pass a homeland security bill that protects our cities and our States from natural disasters and protects our country from terrorists, imagined and real. This is a bill we need to pass for America and make America proud of this United States Congress.

(Click on Congressman Cohen to view his second June 13th floor speech.)

Mr. Chairman, it's been an interesting process these last, give or take, 24 hours. As a freshman legislator who spent 24 years in the Tennessee State senate, in those 24 years in the senate I saw the parties work together. Democrats and Republicans worked together for the betterment of our State. We had Republican governors. We had Democratic governors. We had Republican and Democratic legislators.

What America wants is for the parties to work together. On most of the bills we've had, they were brought by Democrats, and it's been called a Democratic Congress, but many of the bills that were passed by this Congress were done in a bipartisan way.

There were Republicans who voted for stem cell, not a majority, I believe, but Republicans voted for the stem cell research. There were some Republicans who even voted for the minimum wage. There were Republicans who thought prescription drug prices should come down. There were Republicans who even cared about college loans being brought down. There were bipartisan efforts to bring about progress.

There was much less bipartisanship in the effort to save lives in Iraq and end that wasteful and unfortunate policy we have in the Middle East, but--however, there was bipartisanship.

During this debate, one of the most serious requests debates we could have, the Homeland Security bill to protect us from natural disasters, to protect us from foreign enemies and terrorists, we have gotten into the most divisive partisan debate that I've seen in this Congress in the 5 months I've been here.

Much of the debate has not been about the Homeland Security bill, unfortunately, Mr. Chairman. It's been about attempts to attack our Speaker, the first woman ever elected Speaker of this House of Representatives, a great day in this country when the glass ceiling was broken, when a great lady was put in this position, the highest position a woman has ever been in in the legislative body in the history of the United States. To try to tear down the Speaker, trying to tear down the party and trying to bring up other issues, rather than talking about Homeland Security.

Yesterday, Congressman Arcuri spoke, a former prosecutor. He said, you know, in opening statements if a person talks about the facts, they've got a case. And if they talk about things other than the facts, they don't. And the opposition party has not talked about the facts. They've brought up everything but the facts of the Homeland Security bill. They really haven't shown where there are problems with this bill.

The previous speaker, Mr. Chairman, talked about, used all the buzz words, the buzz words of "slush fund," "pet projects," "pork" and others.

The truth of the matter is, Mr. Chairman, and he knows it as well as everybody else knows it, he's not against those things. He just wants his slush fund, his pet projects and his pork. And when people throw those terms out, because that's not what they are, they are Congress citing specific needs to be placed in the law to that represent their districts. But then what he does is disparage government.

I have spent my life in government, my entire life, and I've found it a great calling, and I think we should all try to make people think more and better about government and have young people see this as a high calling, Mr. Chairman. There are young people in our audience. They should see this as a place where they want to serve and see government as working, and I think some of them do.

But to use these terms in a disparaging way when what the party's trying to do is to say, we want our share, we want our earmarks, not pork, but our earmarks, is wrong. And it's wrong when you take the oath of office to uphold the Constitution. You should be upholding government and supporting government.

And it's unfortunate we've seen this. This has been a low point in the Congress since I've been here.

I am proud to be a part of this Congress. There are many Members on the other side of the aisle that I'm proud to serve with as well. There are some very, very fine people, and I'm sure the gentlemen who have spoken today are all fine people.

But we need to rise above some of this partisanship, try to pass this Homeland Security bill, protect our country, and inspire people to serve in government and realize that it's a process, and the process involves the Senate, and it involves the executive, it involves both sides of the aisle. And to try to tear down one side tears down government in general. We're all part of the process, and I wish we'd work together and pass this bill.

We were up till 2 o'clock this morning because of seven moves to rise and have the committee adjourn. All seven failed. They knew they were all going to fail. And it was a burden on the staff, it was a burden on the Congress, and probably a burden on people that wanted to watch something else on C-SPAN last night.

But with that, Mr. Chairman, I just encourage our colleagues to support this bill, to protect America and to have a debate that is germane to the issues concerning homeland security.