Washington, DC – Rep. Joe Baca (D-Rialto) voted today to make our nation safer by implementing the unfulfilled recommendations of the bipartisan 9/11 Commission on improving homeland security, preventing terrorists from acquiring WMD, and developing strategies for preventing the spread of Islamic terrorism.

The House passed the bill this afternoon by a vote of 299-128.

“One of the most important functions of government is to protect people,” said Rep. Baca.  “That is why one of the first bills that the House Democratic leadership brought to the House Floor in this new Congress is a bill to make our nation safer.”

Last year, the bipartisan 9/11 Commissioners gave Congress and the Administration a number of poor grades on implementing the Commission’s recommendations, including 5 F’s, 12 D’s and 2 Incompletes.  

Rep. Baca said, “These poor grades were a call to action.  This critical bill responds to these grades by putting forth specific steps that address the shortfalls the 9/11 Commissioners highlighted.”

The bill includes many provisions to improve homeland security, including steps to prevent terrorist attacks by speeding up the installation of explosive detection systems to monitor passengers and baggage at airports, requiring 100% inspection of air cargo over the next 3 years and 100% scanning of U.S.-bound shipping containers over the next 5 years.

“These steps are especially important to the people I represent in the Inland Empire because our region is an important transportation route for cargo arriving in the United States at the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles and at LAX airport,” said Rep. Baca. “We must make sure that dangerous weapons or chemicals or other hazardous materials are not brought into our country and then traveling on highways or railroad tracks or stored in warehouses in the San Bernardino area.”

The legislation includes additional long-overdue steps to substantially improve homeland security, prevent terrorists from acquiring weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and to reduce the appeal of extremism:

·              Creating a stand-alone grant program to provide first responders with the type of equipment that allows them to communicate with one another during emergencies;

·              Strengthening the Cooperative Threat Reduction (“Nunn-Lugar”) program that focuses on securing loose nuclear materials in the former Soviet Union;

·              Providing increased tools for the Proliferation Security Initiative, through which the U.S. and participating countries interdict WMD; 

·              Establishing a U.S. Coordinator for the Prevention of WMD Proliferation and Terrorism at the White House, who would serve as a presidential advisor on proliferation issues.

·              Providing for the establishment of a Middle East Foundation, to promote economic opportunities, education reform, human rights and democratic processes in the countries of the Middle East; and

·              Promoting quality educational opportunities for youth in Arab and other predominantly Muslim countries, including expanding U.S. scholarship and exchange programs.