Second Bush-Kerry debate: on Homeland Security

George W. Bush: We've tripled the homeland security budget

KERRY: 95% of our containers coming into this country are not inspected today. When you get on an airplane, your bag is x-rayed but the cargo hold isn't x-rayed. Bush chose a tax cut for the wealthiest Americans over getting that equipment out into the homeland as fast as possible. We have bridges and tunnels that aren't being secured. Chemical plants, nuclear plants that aren't secured. Hospitals that are overcrowded with their emergency rooms. If we had a disaster today, could they handle it?

BUSH: We've tripled the homeland security budget from $10 to $30 billion. We'll do everything we can to protect the homeland. We need good intelligence. Right after 1993 he voted to cut the intelligence budget by $7.5 billion.

KERRY: Pres. Bush just said to you that we've added money. The test is not if you've added money. The test is have you done everything possible to make America secure. He chose a tax cut for wealthy Americans over the things that I listed to you.

Source: [Xref kerry] Second Bush-Kerry Debate, in St. Louis MO

George W. Bush: We are not going to have a draft

Q: How do you intend to maintain our military presence without reinstituting a draft?

A: We're not going to have a draft, period. The all-volunteer Army works. It works particularly when we pay our troops well, it works when we make sure they've got housing, like we have done in the last military budgets. An all-volunteer Army is best-suited to fight the new wars of the 21st century, which is to be specialized and to find these people as they hide around the world. We don't need mass armies anymore. We're beginning to transform our military, and by that I mean we're moving troops out of Korea and replacing them with more effective weapons. So, the answer to your question is, we're withdrawing, not from the world, we're withdrawing manpower so they can be stationed here in America so there's less rotation so life is easier on their families and, therefore, more likely to be - we'll be more likely to be able to keep people in the all-volunteer Army.

Source: Second Bush-Kerry Debate, in St. Louis MO

John Kerry: Military is overextended and there's a backdoor draft

Our military is overextended under Bush. Our Guard and Reserves have been turned into almost active duty. You've got people doing two and three rotations. You've got stop-loss policies so people can't get out when they were supposed to. You've got a backdoor draft right now. And a lot of our military are underpaid. These are families that get hurt. It hurts the middle class. It hurts communities, because these are our first responders and they're called up and they're over there, not over here. Now, I'm going to add 40,000 active duty forces to the military, and I'm going to make people feel good about being safe in our military and not overextended, because I'm going to run a foreign policy that actually does what President Reagan and President Eisenhower did and others. We're going to build alliances. We're not going to go unilaterally. We're not going alone like this president did. Source: Second Bush-Kerry Debate, in St. Louis MO

John Kerry: Need the best intelligence and cooperation to make us safe

Q: Why do you think that there have been no further terrorist attacks on American soil since 9/11? If elected, what will you do to assure our safety?

A: The Bush administration has told you and all of us it's not a question of if, it's a question of when. Between the World Trade Center bombing in 1993 or so, and the next time was 5 or 7 years. They people wait. They'll plan. They plot. I agree with Bush that we have to go after them and get them wherever they are. I just think I can do that far more effectively, because the most important weapon in doing that is intelligence. You got to have the best intelligence in the world. In order to have the best intelligence in the world to know who the terrorists are and where they are and what they're plotting, you've got to have the best cooperation you've ever had in the world. We're not getting the best cooperation in the world today. We got a whole bunch of countries that pay a price for dealing with the US now. I'm going to change that.

Source: Second Bush-Kerry Debate, in St. Louis MO

John Kerry: Our container ports, bridges, & plants are not secure

Source: Second Bush-Kerry Debate, in St. Louis MO

The above quotations are from Second Bush-Kerry debate, Town Hall format, Oct. 8, 2004 in St. Louis, Missouri. Click here for definitions & background information on Homeland Security. Click here for more quotes by John Kerry on Homeland Security. Click here for more quotes by George W. Bush on Homeland Security.
*Other candidates on Homeland Security:*
George W. Bush Dick Cheney John Edwards John Kerry *Third Party Candidates:* Michael Baradnik Peter Camejo David Cobb Ralph Nader Michael Peroutka	*Democratic Primaries:* Carol Moseley Braun Wesley Clark Howard Dean Dick Gephardt Bob Graham Dennis Kucinich Joe Lieberman Al Sharpton
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