[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 129 (Monday, October 1, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Page S9942]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     PRIORITIZING THE SENATE'S WORK

  Mr. THOMAS. Mr. President, I want to talk a little bit about the 
future as I hope it might happen in the Senate. Obviously, we have a 
great many things to do, many of which are time imperative, that we 
need to do them immediately, and I am for that.
  I am very proud of what I have seen here and what I have seen at home 
with respect to our national reaction to this terrorism assault and the 
disaster with which we are faced. I believe the President and his team 
are doing what needs to be done, are doing the necessary research and 
intelligence gathering that is necessary. This is the most unusual kind 
of an emergency in which everyone is ready to do something but you have 
to first discover what it is that is proper to do. I think that is 
being done: Positioning the military, to the extent that that will be 
necessary--again, a different kind of war but one in which the military 
obviously will be a very prime portion of it; moving to establish 
domestic defense, working with our States--I was just this week with 
our National Guard in Wyoming, and the Governor was setting about to 
have that be part of the security for airports--and the things that 
need to be done will be given, I hope, an agenda for strengthening our 
domestic defense regarding intelligence.

  I am pleased the President is asking Members to seek to continue to 
do the emergency things that must be done, while, at the same time, 
returning to our daily business and routine. We can do both, urging 
everyone to have the patience we must have to retain our commitment and 
determination to move forward with things we must do.
  I am proud of what I see at home. People have the same conviction 
that we must do these things and are committed to doing whatever it 
takes, supporting our country and supporting our President.
  It is a shame to have to go through this terrible time but I am very 
proud with the Nation coming together, proud of what I see as a show of 
patriotism and support for America.
  I am also very pleased with the performance of this Congress. There 
has been an unusual and remarkable show of nonpartisanship to do the 
things that, indeed, must be done. We have come together. We have much 
yet to do. I believe it would be good if we prioritized the activities 
to complete through the year. Among the 435 Members, there are 
different ideas of priority, but we have to come to a decision as to 
what has to be done immediately. I wish we could do that. Clearly, our 
priorities will rest with the emergency demands brought about by the 
war on terrorism, coupled with the emergency demands we now have with 
the economy. We have special activities dealing both with defense and 
the economy; we have our regular operational items we must do, such as 
13 different appropriations, none of which, yet, has cleared and gone 
to the President. This is what goes into the regular operation of 
government. It seems to me it makes good sense to keep those separate. 
We should separate the issues in the emergency category from the normal 
operational issues we face.
  It would be a mistake to expand what will be long-term operational 
functions in this emergency way and run the risk of having those be 
there when the emergency is over. We ought to deal with those 
differently. Certainly many of the things we need to do now will not be 
in place in the future.
  I believe we should agree on a list of priorities, must-do items we 
need to do for defense and terrorism. We should agree on a list of 
priorities. The administration has things we ought to do 
administratively. We should agree with them to do them. We should make 
a priority list of things to do to stimulate the economy, whether tax 
relief, withholding tax changes, whatever. There are a number of things 
out there. We met last week with Chairman Greenspan, Bob Rubin, and 
others. We will continue to do that. In fact, tomorrow we will meet 
with Secretary O'Neill. I hope we can do this and come up with a list 
and commit ourselves to it, leaving us free to do the things we have to 
do that are now before the Congress.
  We have a great deal to do. It is not easy to set priorities, but 
that is part of our responsibility. If we can do that, I would like the 
leadership to set up a committee to come up with the lists and present 
them to the remainder of the Congress. That will move the Congress 
forward to do the things we must do in a divided fashion--what we must 
do as a priority against the operational agenda.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Virginia, Mr. Allen, is 
recognized.
  Mr. ALLEN. I ask unanimous consent I be allowed to speak in morning 
business for up to 15 minutes.
  The PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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