9/11 Recommendations Implementation Act
9/11 RECOMMENDATIONS IMPLEMENTATION ACT -- (House of Representatives - October 08, 2004)
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to House Resolution 827 and rule XVIII, the Chair declares the House in the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union for the further consideration of the bill, H.R. 10.
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AMENDMENT NO. 23 OFFERED BY MR. PORTER
Mr. PORTER. Mr. Chairman, I offer an amendment.
The CHAIRMAN pro tempore. The Clerk will designate the amendment.
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Mr. PORTER. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Chairman, I offer an amendment to H.R. 10 that will recognize the importance of the private sector and the tourism industry in particular in our Nation's homeland security.
I, like many Members here today in this great body, have read the 9/11 report and am anxious to act on its findings.
I would like to quote from that report: "The mandate of the Homeland Security Department does not end with the government. The Department is also responsible for working with the private sector to ensure preparedness."
It also says, the "private sector preparedness is not a luxury. It is a cost of doing business in the post 9/11 world."
Mr. Chairman, we currently have a Special Assistant to the Secretary for the Private Sector, before the report was published, and unfortunately, the report says we still are not helping the private sector enough.
As an example, the Las Vegas community in the great State of Nevada, we had applied for the Urban Area Security Initiatives Grants and determined that, initially, we did not qualify because we are a small State of approximately 2 million people. With further research, they realized that we have 38 million tourists that visit the great State of Nevada annually. That is an example where there are some challenges with the current law.
We need to promote this position to give it the weight, to make sure private industry is helped and encouraged in its effort to enhance homeland security while staying in business, protecting their employees and their customers.
Again, as I read the 9/11 report, it mentioned how easily the terrorists mingled with the 500 million people who travel across our borders every year and with the hundreds of millions more who travel internally in this country. As I said, Nevada has close to 38 million visitors a year.
The report has some excellent ideas on how to improve transportation and border security, and I look forward to passing those suggestions. But the travel and tourism industry is the number one, number two and number three industry in every State of the union. It is the common element of the private sector in every community. Domestic travellers spend close to $500 billion annually in this country. Foreign tourism contributes $80 billion to our economy. Tourism generates close to $95 billion in taxes, and tourism in our country supports 7.2 million jobs, generating $158 billion in payroll.
As a matter of fact, Las Vegas is the bellwether for an ever-changing and improving economy, creating close to 40,000 new jobs alone in the last year.
Mr. Chairman, my amendment ensures that the DHS has a senior official that recognizes the importance of this industry and all industry and provides liaison with other Federal agencies active on this very important issues.
Our small businesses, their employees, their customers deserve to have their needs count when homeland security decisions are made.
It is important to note that this amendment does not cost the Federal Government in additional dollars or disrupt the operation of any agencies. Mr. Chairman, I urge the House to pass my amendment.
Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.
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Mr. PORTER. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Chairman, I appreciate the comments from my colleague. I will conclude by stating the importance of this is for the safety first of those visiting and traveling to our communities, providing the expertise from those individuals that deal with, on a daily basis, the handling of millions and millions of visitors to our great State and to our country and to the businesses that do the same.
Mr. Chairman, I yield the balance of my time to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Hastert).
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