January 9, 2007

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I thank my good friend from Florida for yielding.

    Mr. Speaker, when terrorism crashed through our national borders and claimed the lives of nearly 3,000 Americans, including over 50 men and women from my district in New Jersey who were in the World Trade buildings that day, I advocated early and consistently for a commission to chronicle the lessons learned from the 9/11 tragedy and to develop a well-informed, thoughtful strategy to reduce the risk of future terrorist attacks.

    The commission's report and subsequent legislation were thoroughly examined by House committees, including the two hearings that I chaired, one in the Committee on International Relations on visa reform and recommendations for enhanced U.S. diplomacy, and the other in the Committee on Veterans' Affairs on emergency medical preparedness.

    The scrutiny given to the report by previous Congresses was robust, thorough and fair, and although prior legislation implemented numerous important measures that have bolstered our national security, indeed, much has already been done, we must always be diligent in implementing new and expanded means for responding to developing threats.

    Our enemies as we all know are constantly on the prowl searching for our vulnerabilities, and our ability to remain ahead of them is critical for our very survival.

    Mr. Speaker, the legislation before us today is yet another attempt in trying to distribute the majority of homeland security and first responder grants based on the risk of terrorism. New Jersey is the most densely populated State in the Nation with at least a dozen sites placed on the FBI's national critical infrastructure list.

    I, along with members of our delegation in New Jersey, have maintained, like a majority of this House and like the Bush administration, that the Department of Homeland Security's first responder grant system was flawed and needed to focus on critical infrastructure rather than on minimum guarantees and a simple population count. The risk formula established by this bill, which will face tough sledding over on the Senate side, will ensure that the Department of Homeland Security thoroughly and accurately evaluates the risks that New Jersey and other States and locales face rather than just doling it out like it's pork-barrel money. 

    Mr. Speaker, I appreciate title VI's provisions that recognize and address the often overlooked correlation between terrorism and human trafficking and smuggling. In addition, like many here in this room, I applauded the creation of the Privacy and Civil Liberties Board 2 years ago. Unfortunately, it has not been implemented in a way that matched the intent of the law nor in the way that the 9/11 Commission had recommended.

    H.R. 1 does include significant reforms that would strengthen the efforts of that board by making it an independent agency and giving it subpoena power. These provisions will ensure that the government is protecting America's privacy while still doing everything in its power to protect our Nation from a terrorist attack.

    I support H.R. 1 and strongly recommend its passage.