Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2007

DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2007

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Mr. FITZPATRICK of Pennsylvania. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the requisite number of words.

Mr. Chairman, today I rise in support of the amendment proposed by my good friends in the northeast corridor, Congressman Castle and Congressman Holt.

This amendment would provide a much needed increase of $50 million for public transportation security. Mr. Chairman, just today hundreds of my constituents were trapped on a completely shut down northeast corridor of the Amtrak system. It turned out, as we know now, to be a power outage. It could have just as well have been an attack on the infrastructure.

Attacks in London, Madrid and Russia emphasize the great and immediate need to strengthen security on public transit systems. I advise everyone to heed this warning. An APTA survey found transit agencies around the country have identified more than $6 billion in transit security funding needs.

The Federal Government must be a full partner in the effort to ensure the security of the Nation's transit users. Terrorists do not only target the sky, Mr. Chairman. This amendment recognizes the need for greater Federal resources for rail and public transportation security.

Americans use public transportation vehicles over 32 million times each weekday. This is more than 16 times the number of daily travels on the Nation's airlines. I urge my colleagues to support this amendment, Mr. Chairman.

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http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/C?r109:./temp/~r109MnahIX