Homeland Security

Homeland Security

Quickly after 9/11, I organized meetings with local, state and federal law enforcement to ensure a coordinated response to attacks. These meetings became a model for other congressional districts. Much progress has been made in defending our nation. But not all of the lessons we learned after 9/11 have been acted upon by Congress.

We must do more to protect our nation's ports and borders. We need to increase funding for port and homeland security in southeast Texas. Southeast Texas contains five of the nation's top 10 largest ports in tonnage, and those ports need more focus and resources on security. I will lead efforts in Congress to bring attention to this issue. We're at a point where issues of cargo screening, ship certification, and limited manpower threaten the stability of our port security apparatus. Unless Congress provides the direction needed to improve our efforts here at home, we could easily find ourselves facing another national emergency right in our own backyard.

I have also been a strong supporter of increasing the number of Border patrol and investing in better surveillance technology along our borders. It's frightening how little attention this issue has gotten from Congress even in the wake of 9/11. We must do better, and when I am elected to Congress, I will sound the alarm on this issue, which is vital to the safety of Southeast Texans.

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