U.S. Chamber Hails Senate Action on Homeland Security

Spirit of Bipartisanship Won Over Political Grandstanding

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The United States Chamber of Commerce hailed Senate lawmakers for putting aside the calls for political grandstanding and passing the Homeland Security Act, which will consolidate homeland security resources under one agency.

"The most important function of the federal government is to protect and defend the American people and our way of life," said Thomas Donohue, Chamber President and CEO. "With the ongoing threat from terrorist activity, we live in a changed world and this important piece of legislation will re-focus a variety of government functions to meet this new reality."

Consolidating homeland security resources under one agency will be the most significant transformation of the U.S. government in more than half a century, according to the Chamber. It will reorganize and streamline many currently overlapping federal activities that directly relate to the ongoing commerce of our nation, including immigration, transportation, trade and infrastructure protection.

The Senate successfully defeated attempts to strip balanced responses to the extremely negative impact our nation's liability system has on technological innovation from the Homeland Security Act. In a letter to lawmakers, the Chamber called such attempts a "poison pill" that would defeat the administration's efforts to establish a Homeland Security Department.

"The lawmakers who turned away from political grandstanding and acted in the best interest of this country should be applauded," said Donohue. "But the debate is not over. We must recognize that a principal element of America's security is the well being of our economy.

"The new Department must, in protecting the country, work with the private sector and recognize that the expeditious flow of legitimate goods, services, and people – domestically and internationally – is part of the very system we are working to protect," Donohue concluded.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is the world's largest business federation representing more than three million businesses and organizations of every size, sector and region.

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