[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 87 (Wednesday, June 26, 2002)]
[House]
[Pages H3934-H3936]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF H.R. 4598, HOMELAND SECURITY INFORMATION 
                              SHARING ACT

  Mr. GOSS. Mr. Speaker, by direction of the Committee on Rules, I call 
up House Resolution 458 and ask for its immediate consideration.
  The Clerk read the resolution, as follows:

                              H. Res. 458

       Resolved, That at any time after the adoption of this 
     resolution the Speaker may, pursuant to clause 2(b) of rule 
     XVIII, declare the House resolved into the Committee of the 
     Whole House on the state of the Union for consideration of 
     the bill (H.R. 4598) to provide for the sharing of homeland 
     security information by Federal intelligence and law 
     enforcement agencies with State and local entities. The first 
     reading of the bill shall be dispensed with. All points of 
     order against consideration of the bill are waived. General 
     debate shall be confined to the bill and shall not exceed one 
     hour, with 40 minutes equally divided and controlled by the 
     chairman and ranking minority member of the Permanent Select 
     Committee on Intelligence and 20 minutes equally divided and 
     controlled by the chairman and ranking minority member of the 
     Committee on the Judiciary. It shall be in order to consider 
     as an original bill for the purpose of amendment under the 
     five-minute rule the amendment in the nature of a substitute 
     recommended by the Committee on the Judiciary now printed in 
     the bill. Each section of the committee amendment in the 
     nature of a substitute shall be considered as read. All 
     points of order against the committee amendment in the nature 
     of a substitute are waived. During consideration of the bill 
     for amendment, the Chairman of the Committee of the Whole may 
     accord priority in recognition on the basis of whether

[[Page H3935]]

     the Member offering an amendment has caused it to be printed 
     in the portion of the Congressional Record designated for 
     that purpose in clause 8 of rule XVIII. Amendments so printed 
     shall be considered as read. At the conclusion of 
     consideration of the bill for amendment the Committee shall 
     rise and report the bill to the House with such amendments as 
     may have been adopted. Any Member may demand a separate vote 
     in the House on any amendment adopted in the Committee of the 
     Whole to the bill or to the committee amendment in the nature 
     of a substitute. The previous question shall be considered as 
     ordered on the bill and amendments thereto to final passage 
     without intervening motion except one motion to recommit with 
     or without instructions.

                              {time}  1030

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Ryan of Wisconsin). The gentleman from 
Florida (Mr. Goss) is recognized for 1 hour.
  Mr. GOSS. Mr. Speaker, for purposes of debate only, I yield the 
customary 30 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from Georgia, or 
from Florida (Mr. Hastings), my colleague and friend, pending which I 
yield myself such time as I may consume. During consideration of this 
resolution, all time is for purposes of debate only.
  Mr. Speaker, the legislation before us is an open rule providing for 
the consideration of H.R. 4598, the Homeland Security Information 
Sharing Act. This is a fair rule that will allow thoughtful discussion 
on a topic that has become crucial to our national security.
  I do not think there is anything controversial in any way about any 
of the elements of the rule, which were so well read by the Clerk, and 
I do not think there is any point in repeating all of that.
  Mr. Speaker, this is a good open rule on an important subject. 
Dealing with information sharing is critical to our ability to prevent 
bad things from happening in homeland America. That is the challenge 
that is before us today.
  I have to congratulate the chairman and the ranking member of the 
Subcommittee on Terrorism and Homeland Security of my Permanent Select 
Committee on Intelligence, the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Chambliss) 
and the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Harman), for their work on 
this timely piece of legislation.
  Mr. Speaker, this bill starts us down a road that we must travel to 
make sure all our forces are cooperatively engaged for national 
security. H.R. 4598 would promote the sharing of critical homeland 
security threat information between Federal law enforcement and 
intelligence agencies with State and local officials in place to 
protect and defend the American public.
  Can Members imagine how much safer our country can be if local first 
responders like police officers and sheriffs have Federal information 
at their fingertips that enables them to pinpoint and thwart evildoers 
before tragedies occur?
  Mr. Speaker, this bill may not provide a crystal ball that forewarns 
us of every and all bad things looming in the future, but it gives us a 
tool for transmitting known facts and information about terrorist 
activity to capable, authorized people who are in position to act on 
the front lines across America.
  The tragic events of September 11 have caused us to reevaluate how we 
go about protecting our Nation and our people. We are dealing with a 
visionary new homeland security structure, we are dealing with 
necessary reform at the FBI, we are dealing with 9-11 reviews, we are 
dealing with reform of the intelligence community, and some inevitable 
changes in our intelligence community capabilities and management.
  So we have a great many things on our plate. But, in the meantime, 
there is no reason why we should not, and every reason why we should, 
support a good rule and a good piece of legislation that will help us 
get some interim activity that will heighten safety for every man, 
woman, and child in the country. That is something that we all want.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. HASTINGS of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I 
may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I thank my good friend, the gentleman from the east 
coast, I mean west coast, of Florida, the distinguished chairman of the 
Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, for yielding time to me. 
Since he almost put me in Georgia, I decided to put him on the east 
coast of Florida.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this rule and in support of the 
underlying bill, the Homeland Security Information Sharing Act. I am 
proud to have worked with the Subcommittee on Terrorism and Homeland 
Security chairpersons, the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Chambliss) and 
the ranking member, the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Harman), on 
this bill; and I am proud to be an original cosponsor of this important 
legislation.
  Mr. Speaker, H.R. 4598 requires Federal intelligence agencies to 
share relevant homeland security information with designated local 
police and emergency first response personnel. Furthermore, this bill 
instructs the Director of Central Intelligence and the Attorney General 
to draft guidelines for the dissemination of this information.
  All such information and the systems used to disseminate it are to be 
open to Federal intelligence, Federal law enforcement, and 
congressional review.
  Mr. Speaker, this legislation is timely indeed. At a moment when 
State and local law enforcement and emergency response personnel are 
being forced to prepare for unprecedented threats to the safety and 
security of their communities, they cannot be left in the dark. Local 
first responders must have access to timely and detailed information 
about any terrorist threats in order to adequately serve their 
communities.
  A footnote right here, and a compliment to the distinguished 
chairperson of the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and, in 
the other body, the Senator from Florida who chairs the concomitant 
committee in the Senate, for having sponsored a program in Orlando that 
I was fortunate enough to attend with both of them that deals 
specifically in part, or dealt with, in part, the facts having to do 
with first responders and local communities.
  I think to the extent that Florida will become a bellwether State, 
the beacon light was shed by the information that was provided at that 
conference due to the two chairs of the intelligence community. I, for 
one, as a Floridian and as a Member of this body, am grateful and 
indebted to them.
  Mr. Speaker, while some may be concerned that this legislation 
greatly widens the pool of people with access to intelligence 
information, let me note that this bill provides very adequate 
safeguards to protect the rights of individuals and groups.
  For example, the bill protects the constitutional and statutory 
rights of individuals by requiring that any information that is shared 
must not be used for any unauthorized purpose. Similarly, the 
information sharing procedures mandated by the bill must ensure the 
security and confidentiality of information as well as redact or delete 
obsolete or erroneous information.
  Last, this legislation, like the PATRIOT Act before it, brings with 
it new modes of intelligence sharing and new congressional oversight 
responsibilities. Just as we are compelled to increase our 
intelligence-sharing capacity in the wake of the tragedy of September 
11, so, too, are we compelled to ensure that these new government 
powers do not erode our precious civil rights and civil liberties.
  Again, for all of the reasons I have just outlined, I support this 
bill and I support this fair, open rule which allows its consideration 
today.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. GOSS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I am from the west coast of Florida. We will get this 
right. Florida is south of Georgia. The gentleman from the east coast 
of Florida just made an eloquent speech for which I am most grateful, 
and I appreciate the kind remarks. I will return them from the west 
coast of Florida to the east coast of Florida.
  It was always a privilege to have the gentleman on our Permanent 
Select Committee on Intelligence. We look forward to his return. We 
enjoy working with him on the Committee on Rules, in the meantime. It 
is a different kind of work than the Permanent Select Committee on 
Intelligence.
  Mr. HASTINGS of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the 
distinguished gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson-Lee).

[[Page H3936]]

  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the distinguished 
gentleman from Florida and the distinguished gentleman from Georgia. I 
want to thank them. I will soon be reprimanded on the floor. I am using 
my time. Let me thank the two distinguished gentlemen from Florida for 
their leadership on this issue.
  Mr. Speaker, let me applaud the proponents of this legislation, 
particularly in the testimony they gave before the Committee on the 
Judiciary, of which I am a member. I want to add my support to the rule 
and am gratified that it is an open rule.
  Mr. Speaker, I would like to share with my colleagues that I think 
one of the more important points that we can make as we move toward 
making this country a safer place to live, and recognizing that we have 
turned the page of history on September 11, is the ability to share 
viable and important information with our local responders, if you 
will, or the local leaders that will provide the home-based security.
  With that in mind, I intend to offer an amendment, a friendly 
amendment, that I hope my colleagues will consider favorably, and that 
is to ensure procedures that will allow the information from government 
whistle-blowers to be able to be shared within the confines of the 
regulations that may be designed by the President of the United States 
of America.
  Mr. Speaker, I hope in this context we will recognize that 
information may come from a variety of sources, and we would hope the 
President would then design for us the best way that that information 
should be shared. The idea is to make sure that our Nation is safe, to 
do it with cooperative and collaborative efforts, but also to protect 
the integrity of the information we need to secure those in the 
homeland.
  This amendment, as I said, is offered in a friendly context to 
recognize the importance of information that comes from those who would 
be willing to provide us the truth. I think as we move forward we have 
all determined that the key element for safety involves finding out the 
facts and the truth.
  Mr. HASTINGS of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my 
time.
  Mr. GOSS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the remarks of my colleague, the gentleman 
from the east coast of Florida (Mr. Hastings). Actually, we do note 
there is an east and west, we are one State together, and proud to know 
each other.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time, and I move the 
previous question on the resolution.
  The previous question was ordered.
  The resolution was agreed to.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

                          ____________________