September 11, 2006

Washington, DC - This week marks one of the most tragic moments in our Nations history.  Five years ago we all were glued to our televisions as we watched two commercial planes crash into the World Trade Center in New York City, the Pentagon, and the fourth crash over Pennsylvania.  This would become the second attack from a foreign entity on American Soil.

 

We are now a different Nation due to that early morning in September; we will never be the same.  We now must remain vigilant.  We have seen that our oceans cannot protect us from those who want to hurt us.

 

Here in Washington, talks continue on how to make our Nation safer and what is the best route to take to meet those goals.  We have not forgotten about that fateful day.  Unfortunately this road has become blurred with other issues that face our Nation, such as the state of our economy and the war in Iraq.

But our Nation is still not as secure as the Administration has pledged to make it.  Our borders remain porous; our ports of entry receive thousands of freight containers that may not be examined.  Our airports still remain vulnerable, we must face it.  There is still much work to be done.

 

The President and his party have begun a campaign of fear throughout our Nation this week.  The President is going around the country giving speeches telling the country that they are not safe, reminding them of the threat posed by foreign entities. 

 

Well Mr. President that is not what we need.

 

Right now we need the President to do what he did when the towers collapsed.  As the ashes and metal still fumed from ground zero, President Bush stood atop the wreckage with members of the fire department reassuring America that it would be ok.

 

Where is he now?  Instead of striking fear in the hearts of millions of Americans he should be here in Washington securing our homeland, something he should have been doing for the past five years instead of just simply repeating the same rhetoric.

 

Congress for its part has begun that endeavor.  Legislation has been passed to assist in the securing of our country.

 

An area of general concern for me and the cities of Houston, Baytown, Pasadena, South Houston, Galena Park and Channelview is our ship channel.  The Houston Chip Channel as part of the Port of Houston Authority ranks second in the United States for total waterborne tonnage.  Not to mention it is the epicenter of the petro-chemical industry as many of the largest oil refineries and chemical plants are on the ship channel. Securing the Port is one of my main priorities.  I have called for and supported numerous federal port security grants for Houston.  As of mid-2005, the Port of Houston has received over $14 million in funding rounds and the Port railroad received $1.5 million.

 

In September 2005, the Port of Houston and Harris County won a combined $31 million in port security grants ($17 for Harris Co., $14 million for Port), after we held a Port Security Grants Workshop at the Port of Houston with the Department of Homeland Security grant program manager.

 

Public and private sector representatives from the ship channel formed the Port Strategic Security Council (PSSC), which began at our January 2005 Port Security Grant Workshop to apply for and implement the grants.  The private sector is part of the PSSC, with both refinery/petrochemical and shipping industries included on the steering committee that votes on spending decisions.

 

The 2005 funding that we helped secure covers security boats, radars, cameras, underwater sonar, a bomb disruption robot, radiation detectors, card readers, cameras, gates, lights, security stations, and video software.  Importantly, the funding will also help fund a regional network to tie all these assets together in real-time. The project is entering the detailed engineering phase, and the new security assets should start to be deployed along the Houston Ship Channel in 2007.

 

Securing our port is a top priority for me and our district and securing all the ports in the United States should be a priority of the President of the United States.  Instead of instilling fear across the Nation, he should be securing it.

 

We are a strong Nation, not just because of our assets and resources, we are a strong Nation because of the men and women that inhabit this great land.  We are a strong, compassionate people with great spirit.  We have seen trying times, we have seen the worst of man and we have risen above and persevered.  Texans alone are known for pulling themselves up by their bootstraps.

 

We cannot continue to live in fear, we will not allow a foreign entity to change or wither our spirit.  This too shall pass, but we must also become pro-active in our need to secure this Nation.  We cannot rely on our oceans to provide a buffer zone to our shores.  We must secure our borders and remain vigilant against all who try to harm us.  Now is a time for action not for words.

 

We must remember the lessons of 9-11, if anything that is the best honor we can bestow on those that died that fateful day.  Let them not die in vain, let’s learn from it, and let us strive to never allow that to happen again. 

 

Unfortunately fear is not the answer.  A Nation that is fearful is a Nation that is weary.  We must become the Nation that we have always been, a Nation that perseveres, and a Nation whose spirit is stronger and more resilient now more than ever. 

 

We will not forget those brave individuals who perished in NYC, Virginia and Pennsylvania.  Their memory will live in us forever, but we must also never forget how through this tragedy, a stronger more united America arose.  United we stand and we will continue as a Nation, but we must not allow FEAR to divide us.  And shame on those that try.

 

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