I think it's hard to get congressmen to do anything about this for the same reason they avoid tax increases at any cost, even if it's for a genuinely good issue. (Northern Virginia is currently having a huge amount of angst over traffic issues, struggling to find some solution that doesn't require tax increases to fund.) Politicians will twist and turn to avoid those items that they know will get them skewered in the media.

Or another example, many years ago a telemarketer called me selling lightbulbs to supposedly get money to help abused children. After the man finally took a breath I told him I wasn't interested (in anonymous light bulbs from some stupid telemarketer). His response was a shocked "you're not interested in helping abused children??" I hung up on him, I was so offended that he'd twisted my meaning around like that.

Those are the same people who will twist the security issue around on the politicians and print newspaper headlines that proclaim "Congressman Smith Not Interested in Safety of American Citizens!"