[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 26 (Wednesday, March 3, 2004)]
[House]
[Page H785]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 EXTENSION OF NATIONAL COMMISSION ON TERRORIST ATTACKS UPON THE UNITED 
                                 STATES

  Mr. GOSS. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to take from the 
Speaker's table the Senate bill (S. 2136) to extend the final report 
date and termination date of the National Commission on Terrorist 
Attacks Upon the United States, to provide additional funding for the 
Commission, and for other purposes, and ask for its immediate 
consideration in the House.
  The Clerk read the title of the Senate bill.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Florida?
  There was no objection.
  The Clerk read the Senate bill, as follows:

                                S. 2136

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. EXTENSION OF NATIONAL COMMISSION ON TERRORIST 
                   ATTACKS UPON THE UNITED STATES.

       (a) Final Report Date.--Subsection (b) of section 610 of 
     the Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2003 
     (Public Law 107-306; 6 U.S.C. 101 note; 116 Stat. 2413) is 
     amended by striking ``18 months'' and inserting ``20 
     months''.
       (b) Termination Date.--Subsection (c) of that section is 
     amended--
       (1) in paragraph (1), by striking ``60 days'' and inserting 
     ``30 days''; and
       (2) in paragraph (2), by striking ``60-day period'' and 
     inserting ``30-day period''.
       (c) Additional Funding.--Section 611 of that Act (6 U.S.C. 
     101 note; 116 Stat. 2413) is amended--
       (1) by redesignating subsection (b) as subsection (c);
       (2) by inserting after subsection (a) the following new 
     subsection (b):
       ``(b) Additional Funding.--In addition to the amounts made 
     available to the Commission under subsection (a) and under 
     chapter 2 of title II of the Emergency Wartime Supplemental 
     Appropriations Act, 2003 (Public Law 108-11; 117 Stat. 591), 
     of the amounts appropriated for the programs and activities 
     of the Federal Government for fiscal year 2004 that remain 
     available for obligation, not more than $1,000,000 shall be 
     available for transfer to the Commission for purposes of the 
     activities of the Commission under this title.''; and
       (3) in subsection (c), as so redesignated, by striking 
     ``subsection (a)'' and inserting ``this section''.

  Mrs. MALONEY. Mr. Speaker, I fully support this extension for the 9/
11 commission. In fact, I would support giving it any and all time and 
cooperation it needs to get to the bottom of 9/11.
  Sixty days is but a bare minimum--but it is absolutely necessary. 
This extension is nice, White House cooperation would be better. A 
thorough final report would bolster our national security and bring a 
measure of understanding and closure to Americans, New Yorkers, and, 
most importantly, the victims' loved ones. Unfortunately, that effort 
has been hampered by an uncooperative White House.
  The latest manifestation, as reported in today's New York Times, is 
severe restrictions on interviews with key 9/11 players.
  I ask unanimous consent to put this in the Record.
  Mr. Speaker we need White House cooperation now. And if they continue 
to refuse to give it, we should demand to know why.
  Mr. Speaker, it's too important for this country, for my city and its 
people not to get this report done right. This is too important an 
issue for the White House to play hid and seek with. I hope this 
extension will trigger full cooperation.

                [From the New York Times, Mar. 3, 2004]

          9/11 Panel Rejects White House Limits on Interviews

                           (By Philip Shenon)

       Washington, Mar. 2.--The independent commission 
     investigating the Sept. 11 attacks is refusing to accept 
     strict conditions from the White House for interviews with 
     President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney and is renewing 
     its request that Mr. Bush's national security adviser testify 
     in public, commission members said Tuesday.
       The panel members, interviewed after a private meeting on 
     Tuesday, said the commission had decided for now to reject a 
     White House request that the interview with Mr. Bush be 
     limited to one hour and that the questioners be only the 
     panel's chairman and vice chairman.
       The members said the commission had also decided to 
     continue to press the national security adviser, Condoleezza 
     Rice, to reconsider her refusal to testify at a public 
     hearing. Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney are expected to be asked 
     about how they had reacted to intelligence reports before 
     Sept. 11, 2001, suggesting that Al Qaeda might be planning a 
     large attack. Panel members want to ask Ms. Rice the same 
     questions in public.
       ``We have held firm in saying that the conditions set by 
     the president and vice president and Dr. Rice are nog good 
     enough,'' said Timothy J. Roemer, a former Indiana 
     congressman who is one of five Democrats on the 10-member 
     commission.
       Mr. Roemer said that former President Bill Clinton and 
     former Vice President Al Gore had agreed to meet privately 
     with the full bipartisan commission, and that Samuel R. 
     Berger, Ms. Rice's predecessor, would testify in public.
       ``It's very important that we treat both the Bush and the 
     Clinton administration the same,'' he said.
       The White House has declined to discuss details of the 
     limitations it has sought on the interviews with Mr. Bush and 
     Mr. Cheney but has said the administration wants to cooperate 
     fully with the commission, known formally as the National 
     Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States.
       A spokesman for the National Security Council, Sean 
     McCormack, said Tuesday that the White House believed it 
     would be inappropriate for Ms. Rice to appear at a public 
     hearing as a matter of legal precedent. ``White House staff 
     have not testified before legislative bodies,'' Mr. McCormack 
     said. ``This is not a matter of Dr. Rice's preferences.''
       Even as panel members warned of a possible confrontation 
     with the White House, there was fresh evidence that the 
     commission had averted a showdown on Capitol Hill. Speaker J. 
     Dennis Hastert, Republican of Illinois, said Tuesday that he 
     planned to shepherd a bill granting the panel a 60-day 
     extension for its final report. Mr. Hastert had vowed to 
     block the extension.
       Mr. Hastert met Tuesday with the commission's chairman, 
     Thomas H. Kean, a Republican and a former governor of New 
     Jersey, and the vice chairman, Lee H. Hamilton, another 
     former Democratic congressman from Indiana, and said at a 
     news conference later that he would try to secure House 
     approval of the extension, a proposal already accepted in 
     the Senate.
       With the extension, the commission would have until July 26 
     for its final report. The panel had warned that if it was 
     held to its original deadline of May 27, as mandated by 
     Congress, it would be unable to complete a full investigation 
     and would have to curtail public hearings.
       Mr. Hastert denied suggestions from Congressional Democrats 
     that he had tried to block the extension as a favor to the 
     White House, given Republican fears that the report might 
     embarrass President Bush during his re-election campaign. Mr. 
     Hastert said he had no direction from the White House.
       ``I didn't want it to become a political football,'' Mr. 
     Hastert said of his initial opposition to the extension, 
     adding that he had been chagrined when the White House said 
     in February that it would back the extension.
       Referring to the commission, Mr. Hastert said he had 
     changed his mind last week ``after it became apparent that 
     they couldn't get their work done.''
       Commission officials said that if the White House continued 
     to insist on limitations on the interviews with Mr. Bush and 
     Mr. Cheney, there might be little that the panel could do to 
     force the issue and that the commission might have to accept 
     the White House's terms.
       And they said that despite internal conversation about the 
     possibility of issuing a subpoena for Ms. Rice's public 
     testimony, that move was unlikely. Ms. Rice provided several 
     hours of private testimony last month and has suggested that 
     she is willing to answer additional questions behind closed 
     doors.

  The Senate bill was ordered to be read a third time, was read the 
third time, and passed, and a motion to reconsider was laid on the 
table.

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