Prepared Opening Statement of

Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales

at Hearing before the House
Appropriations Subcomittee on
Science, State, Justice, Commerce, and
Related Agencies
March 14, 2006
Good afternoon, Chairman Wolf, Congressman Mollohan, 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 a
large and important 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. This
budget, which requests $19.5 billion, will allow us to serve the American people by
working for stronger, safer communities.

Included in the budget are the Department’s six major priorities for the coming year:

Number one: Protecting our Nation from the devastation of terrorism, by improving
our counterterrorism initiatives.

Two: Combating the violent crime that still plagues some of our communities,
especially violence perpetrated with guns or by gangs.

Three: Dismantling drug trafficking organizations and stopping the spread of illegal
drugs, especially methamphetamine.

Four: Ensuring that the Internet is a safe and prosperous place for all Americans,
especially children.
Five: Protecting Americans’ civil rights by prosecuting illegal discrimination. And
six: Ensuring the integrity of our government and corporate marketplace, by rooting
out corruption.

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, including a National
Security Division; 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.

With your help and support, we can make America a safer place for law-abiding
American citizens and a tougher place for criminals.

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 continuing
to provide critical tools for law enforcement and intelligence in the War on Terror.
The Act also makes possible our 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 in your hometowns and mine that 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 to lives and
communities. 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 must be a safe and prosperous place for all Americans, especially our
children. The new Project Safe Childhood initiative that I recently announced 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 – agents whose only
job is to investigate corruption wherever it is found.

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, and also provide $23 million in
enhancements, funding that will provide additional prosecutors to ensure justice in
communities across the Nation.

Just two weeks ago, I met with all of our U.S. Attorneys and I congratulated them
on their excellent record of prosecutions and legal victories. I asked them to
maintain their on-going efforts while simultaneously executing the priorities that I
have laid out today. I expect them to continue to achieve efficiencies where
possible, so that they do more to secure the communities they serve. But today, I
also ask you, Chairman Wolf, Congressman Mollohan, and Members of the
subcommittee: Please give these superb professionals the support they need to make
our neighborhoods safer and more secure.

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 protect intellectual property, enforce immigration laws,
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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