 |
| Press Room - Press Releases |
|
SNOWE: HOMELAND SECURITY APPROPRIATIONS BILL MAKES A VITAL INVESTMENT IN COAST GUARD’S DEEPWATER PROGRAM
October 2, 2006
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Olympia J. Snowe (R-Maine), Chair of the Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Fisheries and Coast Guard, today praised the Senate’s unanimous passage of the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations for bill fiscal year 2007 and the more than $1 billion dollar investment in the Coast Guard’s Deepwater program. The $34.79 billion bill provides the funding necessary to continue ongoing homeland security efforts, increases funding for Customs and Border Patrol and improve national maritime and border security.
“To protect the American people from the threat of terrorist attack we must secure the land and maritime borders of the United States. This bill provides Customs and Border Patrol and the Coast Guard with funding that enables them to ensure the integrity of our borders and the American people. We can never forget the danger posed to the United States by terrorists willing to indiscriminately commit mass murder to disrupt and destroy our way of life. This bill provides the essential resources the men and women who stand on guard against attack need to keep Americans safe,” said Senator Snowe.
The Homeland Security funding bill provides $7.8 billion for the Coast Guard, including $966 million for the Coast Guard's Deepwater program, $5.5 billion for general operations, $1.1 billion for vessel acquisition, upgrade and maintenance, and $1 billion for family and retirement benefits.
“The unprecedented investment in the Coast Guard’s Deepwater program included in this funding bill will accelerate the critical acquisition program, give the Coast Guard the resources they need to carry out their vital missions, and make the American people safer,” Snowe said. “Ensuring our national maritime security is essential to defending the United States against future terrorist attacks, and the Coast Guard is our first line of defense. We must give them the tools and resources they need to accomplish their vital mission.”
Snowe also praised the inclusion of a provision in the bill that postpones the requirement that all persons entering the country from Western Hemisphere countries, such as Canada and Mexico, must have a passport or comparable document until June 2009. Snowe called the provision postponing the passport requirement for 17 months “important for Mainers living on or near the Maine Canadian border.” It also prevents border authorities from stopping individuals bringing prescription drugs from Canada if the drugs are for personal use only and limited to a 90-day supply.
The total includes $21.3 billion for border security and immigration enforcement,
$2.1 billion (11%) more than the current level. Like the Senate bill, the agreement postpones for 17 months, until June 2009, the requirement that all persons entering the country from Western Hemisphere countries, such as Canada and Mexico, must have a passport or comparable document. It prevents border authorities from stopping individuals bringing prescription drugs from Canada if the drugs are for personal use only and limited to a 90-day supply.
###
|
|
|
