Democrats Are Making Our Country Safer

America will never forget the tragedy of September 11th and Democrats will never stop working to make our country as safe as it should be. Since taking control of Congress, Democrats have made major strides in improving our homeland security. Democrats have passed the 9/11 Commission recommendations, provided key funding for our homeland security efforts and worked to change the mission in Iraq to refocus on the terrorist threat and allow our forces to answer other threats to our security.

Democrats Passed Legislation to Implement the 9/11 Commission Recommendations. Democrats worked in a bipartisan manner to pass a comprehensive security bill to implement unmet recommendations of the 9/11 Commission, with the conference report passing 85 to 8. The measure puts new requirements in place for screening air and sea cargo and changes the formula for antiterrorism grants, ensuring that funding is based on the risks faced by a community. The bill also established a program to improve communications between different agencies and levels of government in the event of an attack or catastrophe. The President signed the bill into law. [P.L. 110-53, Implementing the 9/11 Commission Recommendations Act of 2007; New York Times, 7/27/07; The Hill, 8/3/07]

Democrats Have Invested in Securing American Borders, Ports, and Transit Systems. Democrats rejected the Bush Administration’s proposed cuts to critical homeland security initiatives. The Senate provided more than $40 billion in funding for the Department of Homeland Security 2008 budget - more than an eight percent increase over last year’s funding levels. The bill includes $3 billion for emergency border security programs, including an additional 23,000 Border Patrol agents, 300 miles of vehicle barriers, 105 ground-based radar cameras in the southwestern desert and completion of the 700 miles of border fencing authorized by Congress last year. The bill also would increase investments for enhancing aviation and port security and to restore funding levels for first responder grants. [H.R. 2638, Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2008; CQ Today, 7/27/07; U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations Press Release, 7/27/07]

Democrats Provided Emergency Funding for Transporation Security, Border Security and State and Local Disaster Assistance. Democrats provided $1.1 billion in emergency funding for homeland security priorities. The bill included funding for aviation security and air cargo screening, port security and rail and mass-transit security. The bill also provided $75 million to hire additional border patrol agents and millions for FEMA’s state and local programs. The President signed the bill into law. [P.L. 110-28, U.S. Troop Readiness, Veterans' Care, Katrina Recovery, and Iraq Accountability Appropriations Act, 2007; CQ Today, 5/24/07]

Democrats Have Continued to Press for a Change of Mission in Iraq to Refocus on Fighting Terrorism. Democrats have steadfastly pushed for a change of mission in Iraq, to focus on force protection, training of Iraqi Security Forces, and counterterrorism missions, while reducing our troops in Iraq. With the finding of the U.S. Intelligence Community that Al-Qaeda has regenerated it’s homeland attack capability, it is vital to U.S. national security that the U.S. reduce our commitment in Iraq in order to focus on the threat that Islamic terrorism poses to our nation. [Reed-Levin Amendment, Sen. Jack Reed Press Release, 7/11/07; National Intelligence Estimate, 7/07]