No priority is higher than America’s safety. After five years, much of the work to secure America has not even begun. It is the fault of this administration and this Republican Congress; no one else’s. New leadership is a must. We have the blueprint. Senator Joe Biden will see that it’s implemented.

More than a year ago the 9/11 Commissioners reviewed the nation’s preparedness and emergency response capacity. Their report suggested that much work remained to be done to keep our nation safe.

Since 2001, several events have reminded us of the grave threats that still exist. Terrorist attacks on rail systems in Mumbai, following similar attacks in London and Madrid, killed hundreds of innocent civilians. Our British allies disrupted a plot to blow up airliners bound to the United States underscoring our vulnerability in the sky.

Yet the Department of Homeland Security cut funds by forty percent for known terrorist targets like Washington, DC and New York City - despite the 9/11 Commission Report’s recommendation that funds be assigned to regions according to risk.

Clearly, the funding imbalance in the homeland security budget needs to be changed. But that is only the beginning of a plan to make America safer. Only 5 percent of cargo entering our seaports are screened even though our ports are some the most vulnerable targets to terrorist attacks. Our ports, chemical plants, railways and other critical infrastructure are not secure. Our local police agencies are stretched thin and our first responders still cannot talk to one another in the event of an emergency of national proportions.

Senator Biden would take back one year of the tax cuts for Americans who make over a million dollars a year, and put this money in a dedicated Homeland Security and Public Safety Trust Fund to implement the 9/11 Commission recommendations and invest in law enforcement.

For $10 billion a year over the next five years we could:

• screen 100 percent of cargo containers coming into our ports,
• better protect our chemical facilities,
• improve air cargo screening,
• make sure that our first responders can talk to one another in emergencies,
• hire 1,000 more FBI agents,
• hire 50,000 more local cops, and
• create local counter-terrorism units in our large cities to stop home-grown plots

Precedent proves this can work. In the early 1990s, Senator Biden established the Violent Crime Reduction Trust Fund to address the growing crime problem. It put more than 100,000 cops on the street and increased investment in crime prevention programs. Violent crime rates went down.

The Bush administration slashed billions in federal assistance for state and local law enforcement and completely eliminated the COPS hiring program - and crime rates went up. The most recent reports from the Federal Bureau of Investigation show a continuation in the upward swing in violent crimes first reported last year when after years of steady declines, violent crime jumped 2.5 percent - the largest increase in 15 years.

America needs to re-order its homeland and domestic security priorities in the short term - not on the Bush administration’s timetable. Joe Biden has a clear plan to address these issues and a sense of priority for finding a solution.

Local Security

Keeping America safe does not begin and end with fighting global terrorism. Homeland security includes the security of our borders, our streets and our homes. Much media attention has been given recently to finding incipient and existing terror cells here on American soil. The best defense against such threats is a strong and well supported domestic crime-prevention program utilizing local law enforcement and first responder networks.

Hometown and Homeland Security: Budgeting to Support Local Law Enforcement and First Responders

Funding 50,000 Cops and 1,000 FBI Agents: In the 1990s, the Biden Crime Bill added 100,000 cops to America’s streets. As a result, murder and violent crime rates went down eight years in a row. George Bush’s cuts to the program have put America at risk and crime rates are back on the rise. Joe Biden wants to put 50,000 more cops on the street and add 1,000 more FBI agents to address the rise in crime and threats of terrorism.

Increase SAFER Grants: Joe Biden was an early supporter of the SAFER Act, which has helped 400 local departments - large and small - hire additional fire fighters. When President Bush attempted to eliminate the program, Joe Biden worked to restore it and increased federal support for hiring both paid and volunteer first responders. But more needs to be done, as two-thirds of our fire departments are still understaffed and many first responders are overworked. Joe Biden’s Homeland Security Trust Fund Act, includes $500 million to fund the SAFER program every year for the next five years.

Help First Responders Communicate: America’s first responders still cannot easily communicate with the military, police and other first responders in the event of an emergency or natural disaster. Why? The communications equipment between a unit of the National Guard, the local fire fighter or cop, or other first responders is not interoperable. Joe Biden supports giving first responders the equipment they need, so if there is a Katrina or a 9/11, the dedicated professionals or volunteers can do their jobs. He is also a strong supporter of establishing a hard date for broadcasters to return their analog spectrum so emergency personnel can use it to improve communications.

Hometown and Homeland Security: Budgeting to Improve Fire Safety and Natural Disaster Recovery

A Very Personal Bond: For 35 years Joe Biden has had a personal bond with fire fighters. His local Delaware volunteer fire fighters helped in what he calls three of the most consequential events in his life. In 1972, after his wife and three children were broadsided by a tractor-trailer, the fire force was able to save his two young sons trapped in the automobile. In 1988, after he was diagnosed with a life-threatening cranial aneurism, his local fire fighters drove him in the middle of a snowstorm from Delaware to Walter Reed Hospital, in Washington, D.C., for major surgery. And a few years ago when lightning struck his house, again fire fighters were there and saved his home.

Increase Support for the FIRE Act: Joe Biden believes that no priority is higher than keeping Americans safe. In 2001, Joe Biden co-sponsored the original FIRE Act to better equip fire fighters. Nationwide, more than 33,000 fire departments have used FIRE Act funds to obtain new equipment and improve training. When President Bush repeatedly tried to slash the program, Joe Biden worked to restore the funding. The role of fire fighters has expanded since September 11th from providing local response to being prepared for a national disaster. Joe Biden’s Homeland Security Trust Fund Act includes $500 million for FIRE Act grants every year for the next five years.

Head of the Fire Caucus: Because fire fighters have played such a special part in Joe Biden’s life, his mission is to help them in communities across America as much as they have helped him. In 1989, he became a Founding member of the Congressional Fire Caucus and assumed its chairmanship in 1996, a position he still holds today as the Senate’s staunchest supporter of legislation to help fire fighters. Joe Biden also is President Emeritus of the Delaware Volunteer Firemen’s Association.

Memorials to Fire Fighters: He co-sponsored legislation creating the Public Safety Office Medal of Valor, the Nation’s highest award for fire fighters and other public safety officers who act with extraordinary valor. Throughout his career, Joe Biden also has supported numerous measures to honor fallen fire fighters. To celebrate the 300th birthday of Ben Franklin, who started America’s first fire company, Joe Biden sponsored legislation enabling the Treasury to mint special silver coins with Franklin’s image. Proceeds went to various fire safety organizations.

Hometown and Homeland Security: Legislation to Reduce Crime

The Biden Crime Law: Joe Biden wrote the legislation that put 100,000 cops on the streets, built drug courts to improve rehabilitation treatment for non-violent offenders and worked with community groups like the Boys and Girls Clubs and Police Athletic Leagues to keep kids off the streets and out of trouble, reducing crime eight years in a row.

Protecting Children from Sex Offenders: Joe Biden has been standing up for our kids for years by writing legislation to create a national registry of sex offenders, increasing funding for Child Advocacy Centers, and by authoring the Adam Walsh Act to ensure convicted sex offenders do not slip through the cracks and go after our children.

Fighting Drugs: Joe Biden has worked to increase penalties for dealing drugs within 1,000 feet of schools, has created the Drug Czar office in the White House, and has worked to keep drugs out of the hands of students.

Fighting Corporate Crime: Joe Biden recognizes that corporate criminals at corporations like Enron that wipe out families’ savings through fraud and other criminal activity should be subject to stiff penalties. He has sponsored legislation requiring top executives to certify financial statements for public companies and imposing criminal penalties if those certifications are false.

Making Criminals Serve Their Full Terms: Currently state prisoners serve only 40 percent of their sentences behind bars on average. Joe Biden has written legislation that provides funds to states for building prisons if they agree to keep their violent offenders behind bars for at least 85 percent of their sentence.