The Senate Homeland Security Bill: More Hits Than Misses

Publication Date: February 2007

Publisher: Heritage Foundation (Washington, D.C.)

Author(s): James Jay Carafano

Research Area: Government

Keywords: Homeland defense; Homeland security

Type: Brief

Coverage: United States

Abstract:

The contrast between the Senate's Improving America's Security Act of 2007 (S. 4) and the legislation passed last month in the House, the Implementing the 9/11 Commission Recommendations Act of 2007 (H.R. 1), is stark. While purporting to implement the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission, the House bill offered little more than "bait and switch" security, containing a hodge-podge of "bumper sticker" election-year promises that had little do with either the 9/11 Commission's report or the real homeland security needs of the United States. The draft bill to be introduced in the Senate, however, focuses mostly on practical measures for addressing priority issues.