WASHINGTON  -  U.S. Representative Jo Ann Emerson (MO-08) voted with her colleagues to pass the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations bill for Fiscal Year 2007. The bill was passed by a vote of 389-9 and now moves to the U.S. Senate for full consideration.

Emerson is a member of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security, which constructed the bill.

"Border protections, port security, immigration enforcement and grants for first responders are priorities of mine, and they are priorities in this legislation," Emerson said. "We cannot rest in our effort to secure America against the threat of terrorism, and this bill provides the necessary funds to keep making progress. Plus, as we have seen in the debate over immigration, we cannot make effective policy without secure borders," Emerson said.

Emerson would like to see one change in the Department of Homeland Security in the future, however.

"I feel very strongly that the Federal Emergency Management Agency should be an independent, cabinet-level agency so that, in a time of national disaster, we can respond to the Americans in need. This is an idea I fully support after much research, and I will work to lead a discussion on this reform in the Congress over the coming year. In Southern Missouri where we have seen the recent devastation of tornadoes and we know the threat of a major earthquake is very real; FEMA needs to be as ready as possible to deal with disasters like these in our – and any other – congressional district," Emerson said.

The Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2007 provides more than $4 billion for port, container, and cargo security; $19.6 billion for border protection and immigration enforcement, $6 billion of which will be used to add new Border Patrol and Immigrations and Customs Enforcement Agents; and $3.3 billion for first responders.