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Pelosi: Five Years After 9/11, We Are Not As Safe As We Should Be

September 6, 2006

Pelosi: Five Years After 9/11, We Are Not As Safe As We Should Be

Wednesday, September 6, 2006

Contact: Brendan Daly/Jennifer Crider, 202-226-7616

Washington, D.C. â€" House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi joined other House Democratic leaders and Former Congressman Tim Roemer, a member of the 9/11 Commission at a press conference this evening to discuss the fifth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks:

â€Å"Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am honored to be here with you, back in Washington, and I join you in welcoming Mr. Tim Roemer. I was pleased to be part of nominating him to be a member on the Commission. It was appropriate because he was the author of the legislation to form the 9/11 bipartisan independent commission. It was resisted by the White House and now the recommendations of the commission are resisted by the White House.

â€Å"Democrats are calling for a New Direction. We take very seriously our responsibility to protect the American people. Five years after 9/11, two years after the 9/11 Commission recommendations, and one year after Hurricane Katrina, our first responders, fire and emergency services personnel, still do not have the technology of real-time communication to save lives. Five years after 9/11, we still do not have 100 percent screening at our ports, we still do not have a mandate for chemical and nuclear plants to safeguard them, we still have not brought anywhere near what we need to of fissile material that poses the biggest danger to the safety of the American people. Our ports are not secure, our borders are not secure, and our country is at risk. We could be safer.

â€Å"That’s why my colleagues and I sent a letter to Speaker Hastert the other day to say, that in honor to commemorate 9/11, we must immediately pass the 9/11 Commission recommendations. It’s urgent and the suggestions are well-founded, based on a factual assessment of risk and the prospect of their success.

â€Å"Democrats believe that a new direction for America is needed to protect the American people.”