Prepared Opening Remarks of

Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales

at the Senate Appropriations
Subcommittee
on Commerce, Justice, Science, and
Related Agencies
Washington, D.C.
April 5, 2006
Good afternoon, Chairman Shelby, ranking minority Member Mikulski, and
members of the Subcommittee:

The men and women of the Department of Justice are working every day to secure
the opportunities of the American Dream for all Americans. As Attorney General, I
want to ensure that our neighborhoods are safe, secure, and prosperous. This is an
enormous goal, and one that we have made steady progress on over the past few
years.

Today I present the President’s FY 2007 Budget for the Department of Justice. Mr.
Chairman, in an Administration that is committed to controlling overall government
spending, this budget prioritizes our top public safety needs. This is a budget that
builds on our expertise, launches new programs, and eliminates or cuts programs
that have not met our high standards. It focuses State and local assistance on
priorities established by the Administration and Congress. Included in this $19.5
billion dollar budget are the Department’s six major priorities for the coming year.

*Our highest priority is to stop the terrorists who seek to destroy the American
promise of liberty and prosperity. Waging the war on terror has been among the
most difficult challenges that the Justice Department and the government has ever
undertaken. But we have made great progress, as evidenced by the hundreds of
convictions we have obtained in terrorism-related investigations, and by the terror
cells we have located and broken up from coast to coast. Still, we all know al-Qaeda
remains a threat. I thank Congress for reauthorizing the Patriot Act and providing
resources in the War on Terror. I look forward to your support of our effort to
stand-up the new National Security Division, which will enable us to house our
counterterrorism and counterintelligence prosecutors side-by-side, making it faster
and easier to connect the dots. The threat of terrorism is not going away, and neither
is our commitment to do everything we can to stop it. And so we are requesting
over $330 million for new and directed counterterrorism and intelligence programs
to protect our Nation from this continuing threat.

*Every American deserves to live free from the fear of violent crime. The
President’s Project Safe Neighborhoods is taking criminals off the streets and
reducing gun and gang crime. Our efforts are working – crime has plunged to thirty-
year lows, resulting in thousands of Americans who have not been threatened, have
not been harmed, and have not been violated by gangs with guns. However, gang
violence is still a problem, and this budget requests over $22 million in
enhancements and almost $163 million in State and local grants to further liberate
our communities from gang and gun crime.

*Illegal drugs poison children, destroy lives and threaten the safety and the
prosperity of our communities. Methamphetamine is particularly destructive. The
Department has worked harder than ever to combat methamphetamine over the past
year. We have successfully dismantled some of the most deadly drug organizations
that dump drugs into our neighborhoods. This budget requests almost $235 million
in enhancements to stem the supply of drugs from overseas and to secure our
homeland and shut down our borders to illegal aliens.

*The Internet should be a safe, crime-free place for all Americans, especially our
children. Our new Project Safe Childhood initiative is designed to complement our
other efforts to secure for every child the most important gift that we can give – a
safe environment in which to live, grow, and learn. Through this initiative we will
identify, prosecute and lock up those who victimize our children through the
possession, production and distribution of child pornography, and those who use the
shadow of the Internet to lure minors into sexual activity. In this budget, we seek
more than $186 million to help end the sexual exploitation of children and the
proliferation of obscenity.

*Securing the American Dream requires protecting individuals from illegal

discrimination. I am pleased that the Department prosecuted a record number of
criminal civil rights cases in the last two-year period, but I am asking the Civil
Rights Division to do even more to vigorously protect our citizens’ rights to work,
to vote, and to buy or rent a home free from discrimination. We are seeking over
$113 million for the Civil Rights Division to accomplish these goals. We have also
launched a new initiative, “Operation Home Sweet Home,” which expands our Fair
Housing Act testing program. The Division is also focused on eradicating the
modern-day slavery of human trafficking. Prosecutions of this crime have increased
over 300% during this Administration, but even one victim is too many. In the
coming year, we will continue our efforts to locate and rescue the victims of this
atrocity.
*The sixth and final priority I want to emphasize is the Department’s fight against
government and corporate corruption. Honesty and integrity in government and in
business are essential for a strong America. Prosperity cannot flourish if taxpayers
and investors lose their confidence in these institutions. As part of our anti-
corruption commitment, more than 200 new FBI agents have been added in the past
three years to anti-corruption squads across the United States.

Virtually all of these priorities require our federal prosecutors to do more. Over the
past several years, Congress has been supportive in providing law enforcement with
more agents and investigators to detect crime. But now that we have more cops on
the street, we need more prosecutors in the courtroom to make sure that the
criminals we identify are brought to justice. Accordingly, I am asking that you fully
fund the budget for the United States Attorneys, to provide additional prosecutors to
ensure justice in communities across the Nation.

The priorities I outlined today in no way reflect all of our many important
responsibilities. The Department of Justice serves as the Nation’s chief prosecutor
and litigator, representing the people of the United States in court not just to
prosecute crime, but also to enforce immigration laws, protect intellectual property,
safeguard the environment, defend the laws that Congress passes, and protect the
national treasury against fraud. The Department also protects our communities by
safely and securely confining all of the people in federal custody. These are all
tremendous responsibilities and require sufficient resources as well.

Securing the American Dream for all Americans is an easy thing to say, but a very
difficult thing to do. In the past few years, America has been a safer, more secure
place than it was a decade ago. We have faced many challenges and made great
strides. Others are still before us. You have my commitment that the men and
women at the Department of Justice will work hard every day, with the resources
you provide, to make the communities that we both serve as safe, secure, and
prosperous as possible.

Thank you.

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