mr. speaker , i rise in support of the wartime supplemental that includes urgent funding for our soldiers and sailors now prosecuting the global war on terror in afghanistan and iraq . 
this bill also has important additional funding for border security , and language important to south texas shrimpers that will make it easier for them to hire workers for the coming season . 
as a member of the house armed services committee , i know our soldiers can do anything . 
yet that truth does not mean that the congress should skimp on our financial obligations to our fighting men and women . 
they run out of money altogether at the end of this month , so i am pleased we are finalizing this bill today . 
as a border congressman , i am grateful that the conferees included desperately needed funding for border security . 
i have been relentless in talking to so many of you about my concerns related to spending on border security matters . 
i thank the gentleman from wisconsin , mr. obey , for his work in getting negotiators to include this spending . 
while this is a good start , it still comes up short of both what we need and what the intelligence reform bill mandated we do . 
the intelligence reform bill passed by congress last year mandated 2 , 000 border patrol agents a year for the next 5 years . 
the president came to the table with only 210 in his budget ; today we are adding another 500 . 
that 's still over 1 , 000 short of what this government agrees is the very least we should do to protect our border and stem the tide of releasing otms -- illegal immigrants that are `` other than mexican '' -- into the u.s. general population . 
given our border security is entirely budget driven , this is a rare victory for those of us who have been talking about the need to put our money where our mouth is when it comes to protecting our nation from terrorists that may be trying to enter the country through the loopholes in our border security policy . 
we are sending our young soldiers to fight and die in iraq and afghanistan and we justify that by saying we are fighting the war there so we will not have to fight it here . 
we may very well be fighting a war over there and letting terrorists in our back door . 
as so many south texans and my colleagues know , i have been lifting my voice about how border security is profoundly lacking . 
currently , the united states does not have room to hold the large number of otms , caught by border law enforcement . 
while i know that most of these immigrants are merely seeking a better life , it is the few -- the handful -- that may be entering our country to do us harm . 
that is whom we need to worry about . 
so we are releasing , on their own recognizance , into the population of the united states very large numbers of otms. what happens is our border patrol agents routinely call detention facilities and discover there is no room to hold otms. so , they process these immigrants , many times without even getting fingerprints or running them through our national databases to see if they are on watch lists , and release them into the general population with a notice to appear at a deportation hearing a few weeks later . 
law enforcement officers then take the released otms to the local bus station by the vanload , where they head elsewhere in the u.s. the number that never appear for deportation is over 90 percent of those released , a number now probably over 75 , 000 . 
already the number of otms captured and released is more , so far this year , than for all of last year . 
it is little wonder that private citizens are taking the law into their own hands to try to stem the tide of otms coming into our country . 
but private militias , operating without the color of law , are not the answer . 
we must secure our borders so private citizens do not feel the need to do so . 
as a former law enforcement officer i know if we do n't have the border officers to stop the otms crossing the border , if we do n't have the room to hold the ones we catch , if we do n't put our money where our mouth is , we continue to send a dangerous signal to those who may wish to do us harm . 
until we send a signal that those who cross our borders illegally , until we send a signal that when we catch you we will hold you until you are deported , until we honestly face the amount of money it will take to deal with these things , otms will continue to flock to the u.s. , quite possibly populating terror cells already operating in the united states . 
unfortunately , the leadership decided to include many controversial provisions that members would n't otherwise support if they were n't linked to funding our troops . 
i do not agree with some of the so-called security provisions in this bill , mainly the stricter asylum laws and national standards for drivers ' licenses . 
a country like ours that believes so greatly in freedom and the protection of the oppressed should be a safe haven for refugees that are being persecuted by their governments because of their race , religion or political beliefs , which is why we are fighting the war we fund in this bill . 
i am also disappointed congress has gone one step further in creating a national id . 
many would suggest that a drivers ' license is the way terrorists are infiltrating our country . 
that is simply not the case . 
standardizing a drivers ' license would not have precluded the 9/11 terrorists from entering this country -- immigration reform and better border security practices would have . 
today 's bill is a start in putting our money where our mouth is , but it is still insufficient to the monumental border security task before us and i ask our appropriators to ensure the necessary funding is included in the fiscal year 2006 appropriations bill . 
ms. millender-mcdonald . 
mr. speaker , as the ranking democrat of the committee on house administration , i wish to comment briefly on key provisions of this supplemental appropriations bill that touch upon my committee 's jurisdiction . 
i commend the conferees for including $ 2.6 million for taking `` technical countermeasures '' to assure the electronic integrity of the visitor center now under construction here at the capitol . 
given the status of that construction project , this matter is time-sensitive , and while we have no reason to believe anyone involved with the construction may be seeking to install surreptitious listening devices within the building 's walls and fittings , we know there are people in this world who might like to do so . 
it is prudent to take reasonable steps against it , and thus eliminate any chance of repeating what happened during construction of the u.s. embassy in moscow some years ago . 
i also commend the conferees for including $ 8.4 million to refresh the supply of `` quick masks '' deployed around the capitol complex to protect persons against chemical or biological attack . 
the current masks have a limited shelf-life , and making these funds available now will expedite the process of replacement as they approach their expiration dates . 
there is no question that the congress needs a new off-site delivery center , to facilitate the secure , timely delivery of packages to the capitol and congressional office buildings . 
i am pleased the conferees included funds for a temporary facility to replace the substandard site now used , and funds for design of a permanent facility . 
i trust that given the importance of deliveries to the capitol , any difficulties between the two houses over the nature of the delivery system can be resolved quickly . 
finally , i wish to comment on something the conferees did not include in this bill , namely , any funding for up to 132 additional capitol police officers during fiscal 2005 . 
these 132 officers , when added together with 122 more requested as part of the police 's fiscal 2006 request , would increase the sworn ranks by another 254 officers , an increase of roughly 16 % within two years . 
obviously , with less than five months remaining in fiscal 2005 , the police could not hire and fully train 132 more officers by september 30 , so there is little reason to include funds in this bill , or even the funds for all 50 more officers included in the senate bill . 
i am pleased that under these circumstances , the conferees chose to defer a decision about the need i thank our friends on the appropriations committee for their difficult and prudent decisions on the legislative-branch portion of this bill . 
i look forward to working with them , and with our colleagues on my own committee , as the work of the legislative branch forges ahead . 
