[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 114 (Tuesday, September 21, 2004)]
[House]
[Pages H7301-H7302]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
DEGRADATION OF THE DEMOCRATIC PROCESS
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the
gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Frank) is recognized for 5 minutes.
Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. Mr. Speaker, I am here to protest what
has become a significant degradation of the democratic process in this
House. We have a situation in which the House leadership has turned the
legislative process into a propaganda arm. With increasing and
depressing frequency, we are given resolutions to vote on in a form
which does not allow for amendments, and these resolutions contain a
mix of the good, the bad and the ugly.
What we have is a pattern of taking sentiments to which all Members
of the House or nearly all Members subscribe, sentiments which are
quite proper, and then adding into these sentiments are far more
controversial sentiments, sentiments that many of us disagree with.
It is an abuse of the process of democracy to bring forward on this
floor resolutions which combine those things with which Members agree
with things which are controversial in a form which does not allow
Members to even begin to separate them.
There are, for good reasons, parliamentary rules and ways through
which Members can express partial agreement. We can amend. We can
divide the question. But when bills are brought here under suspension
of the rules, as they often are, the legislative process is turned into
a political propaganda machine. What happens is Members feel coerced
into voting in very large numbers for particular sentiments which could
not in many cases get a majority on their own and certainly could not
get majorities of the size that they get.
{time} 2000
And then having gotten that, people will say, see, everybody agrees
with that. Most recently this happened on September 9 when we voted on
the resolution brought out of the Committee on International Relations
dealing with the terrible events of September 11, 2001; and I will
insert this in the Record, appropriately marked. It has resolve clauses
that we all agree with, but it also has a series of ``whereas'' clauses
which include a number of things which are extremely controversial, in
my view, untrue, and unworthy of being put through in this coercive
fashion.
Paragraphs 4 and 5, which I have noted on my copy of the resolution,
treat the war in Iraq as part of the global war on terrorism. It has
been made increasingly clear, most recently by our colleague who is now
waiting confirmation as head of the CIA, that statements by
administration officials tying Iraq to the September 11 situation were
simply not true. Yet this resolution acts as if they were. This
resolution implicitly reaffirms the increasingly discredited notion,
believed, I think, by almost nobody except possibly the Vice President
because he talks about it all the time, that said that there was a
direct link between September 11 and Iraq.
And it is wrong to coerce Members to vote for statements that falsely
assert this claim because otherwise they will be accused of not caring
about the events of September 11.
Then on paragraphs 15 through 21, we have inappropriate celebratory
language. If we read these paragraphs, we have solved the problems of
immigration and terrorism. We are examining all the cargo. We have
taken care of everything. We have ``whereas'' clauses here that look
like part of the President's reelection campaign. He is entitled to a
reelection campaign. He is not entitled to take things that belong in a
reelection campaign statement and bundle them into an otherwise
noncontroversial resolution to coerce people into voting for him.
This congratulates us, for example, that we have extended our borders
overseas and to secure and screen cargo before it is placed on ships
destined for United States ports of entry. It talks about the great
success of the Terrorist Threat Integration Center. Frankly, if one
read this resolution and believed it, they would not need the 9/11
Commission report. These paragraphs basically celebrate the
accomplishments of what the 9/11 Commission points out need to be done.
We have congratulations to the Immigration Service, congratulations
to the FBI, congratulations to the Coast Guard. There are very hard-
working decent people trying hard to accomplish these things, but we
have not done them yet. These things, if they had been brought forward
on their own as statements, would have been rejected, I believe.
It is absolutely wrong to take these inaccurately self-congratulatory
statements about the administration's performance and our own
performance here in Congress and get votes for them because otherwise
people would be accused of not wanting to express our horror of
September 11 and our thanks to those who worked so hard against it.
So, Mr. Speaker, because I did not think that the war in Iraq was
part of the war on terror, I do not think we deserve to claim ``mission
accomplished'' with regard to the fight against terrorism, I voted
against this resolution. And I hope we will stop this practice of
giving a bait-and-switch approach to legislation.
H. Res. 757, in the House of Representatives, U.S., September 9, 2004.
Whereas on September 11, 2001, while Americans were
attending to their daily routines, terrorists hijacked four
civilian aircraft, crashing two of them into the towers of
the World Trade Center in New York City, and a third into the
Pentagon outside Washington, D.C., and a fourth was prevented
from also being used as a weapon against America by brave
passengers who placed their country above their own lives;
Whereas three years later the country continues to, and
shall forever, mourn the tragic loss of life at the hands of
terrorist attackers;
Whereas by targeting symbols of American strength and
success, these attacks clearly were intended to assail the
principles, values, and freedoms of the United States and the
American people, intimidate the Nation, and weaken the
national resolve;
4
Whereas three years after September 11, 2001, the United
States is fighting a Global War on Terrorism to protect
America and her friends and allies;
5
Whereas since the United States was attacked, it has led an
international military coalition in the destruction of two
terrorist regimes in Afghanistan and Iraq while using
diplomacy and sanctions in cooperation with Great Britain and
the international community to lead a third terrorist regime
in Libya away from its weapons of mass destruction;
Whereas the United States is reorganizing itself in order
to more effectively wage the
[[Page H7302]]
Global War on Terrorism by transforming the Department of
Defense, sharpening the Federal Bureau of Investigation's
counterterrorism focus, strengthening the authority of the
Director of Central Intelligence to coordinate national
intelligence activities, and creating a Department of
Homeland Security;
Whereas of the senior al-Qaida leaders, operational
managers, and key facilitators that the United States
Government has been tracking, nearly two-thirds of such
individuals have been taken into custody or killed;
Whereas just as significant, with the help of its allies,
the United States has disrupted individuals and organizations
that facilitate terrorism--movers of money, people, messages,
and supplies--who have acted as the glue binding the global
al-Qaida network together;
Whereas Pakistan has taken into custody more than 500
members of al-Qaida and the Taliban regime, including Khalid
Sheik Mohammed and Ramzi bin al Shibh, conspirators in the
September 11, 2001, attacks, and Kahallad Ba'Attash, an
individual involved in the planning of the attack on the USS
COLE in 2000;
Whereas Jordan continues its strong counterterrorism
efforts, arresting two individuals with links to al-Qaida who
admitted responsibility for the October 2002 murder in Amman,
Jordan, of Lawrence Foley, a United States Agency for
International Development Foreign Service Officer;
Whereas in June 2002, Morocco took into custody al-Qaida
operatives plotting to attack United States Navy ships and
ships of other member nations of the North Atlantic Treaty
Organization in the Strait of Gibraltar;
Whereas the United States and its allies in Southeast Asia
have made significant advances against the regional terrorist
organization Jemaah Islamiyah, which was responsible for the
attack in Bali, Indonesia, in October 2003 that killed more
than 200 people;
Whereas Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand,
and other countries in Southeast Asia have taken into custody
leaders and operatives of local al-Qaida-affiliated terrorist
organizations and members of al-Qaida traveling through such
countries;
Whereas the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Spain,
and other countries have disrupted cells of the al-Qaida
terrorist organization and are vigorously pursuing other
leads relating to terrorist activity;
15
Whereas following the attacks of September 11, 2001, the
United States Government initiated innovative programs, such
as the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism program
and the Container Security Initiative, to extend our borders
overseas and to secure and screen cargo before it is placed
on ships destined for United States ports of entry;
16
Whereas the Department of Homeland Security implemented the
US-VISIT border security screening system in December 2003 at
all air and sea ports of entry, requiring that nonimmigrant
visa holders entering the United States be fingerprinted and
screened through various criminal and terrorist databases
before entry into the United States, and this system will be
expanded to land ports of entry in accordance with
congressional deadlines;
17
Whereas since September 11, 2001, the Coast Guard has
conducted more than 124,000 port security patrols, 13,000 air
patrols, boarded more than 92,000 vessels, interdicted over
14,000 individuals attempting to enter the United States
illegally, and created and maintained more than 90 Maritime
Security Zones;
18
Whereas following attacks of September 11, 2001, the
Terrorist Threat Integration Center was established, which
now fuses, for the first time in United States history,
terrorist-related information, foreign and domestic,
available to the United States Government for systematic
analysis and dissemination to prevent or disrupt terrorist
attacks on the United States;
19
Whereas following the attacks of September 11, 2001, the
Terrorist Screening Center, a multi-agency partnership, was
established to integrate the dozens of separate terrorist
databases that existed before September 11th into a single
terrorist watch list for use by Federal, State, and local law
enforcement, intelligence, and border security personnel.
20
Whereas following the attacks of September 11, 2001, the
United States Government has ensured the hardening of cockpit
doors on airplanes and greatly expanded the use of armed
Federal air marshals to prevent and deter future hijackings
that could turn commercial planes into weapons of mass
destruction;
21
Whereas having recognized the need to prevent terrorist
organizations from using their resources, the Federal Bureau
of Investigation has worked closely with the Department of
the Treasury to target 62 terrorist organizations and freeze
$125,000,000 in assets of such organizations worldwide used
to fund terrorist activities;
Whereas to date United States Armed Forces and Coalition
forces have killed or captured 43 of the 55 most wanted
criminals of the Saddam Hussein regime in Iraq, including
Saddam Hussein himself;
Whereas the al-Zarqawi terror network used Baghdad as a
base of operations to coordinate the movement of people,
money, and supplies; and
Whereas thousands of families have lost loved ones in the
defense of freedom and liberty against the tyranny of terror:
Now, therefore, be it
Resolved: That the House of Representatives--
(1) extends again its deepest sympathies to the thousands
of innocent victims of the September 11, 2001, terrorist
attacks, their families, friends, and loved ones;
(2) honors the heroic actions and the sacrifices of United
States military and civilian personnel and their families who
have sacrificed much, including their lives and health, in
defense of their country in the Global War on Terrorism;
(3) honors the heroic actions of first responders, law
enforcement personnel, State and local officials, volunteers,
and others who aided the innocent victims and, in so doing,
bravely risked their own lives and long-term health;
(4) expresses thanks and gratitude to the foreign leaders
and citizens of all nations who have assisted and continue to
stand in solidarity with the United States against terrorism
in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, terrorist
attacks;
(5) discourages, in the strongest possible terms, any
effort to confuse the Global War on Terrorism with a war on
any people or any faith;
(6) reaffirms its commitment to the Global War on Terrorism
and to providing the United States Armed Forces with the
resources and support to wage it effectively and safely;
(7) vows that it will continue to take whatever actions
necessary to identify, intercept, and disrupt terrorists and
their activities; and
(8) reaffirms that the American people will never forget
the sacrifices made on September 11, 2001, and will never bow
to terrorist demands.
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