[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 125 (Wednesday, October 6, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1803-E1804]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     9/11 COMMISSION IMPLEMENTATION

                                 ______
                                 

                             HON. TOM DeLAY

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, October 5, 2004

  Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, in this, the final week of this legislative 
session, Congress will cap off two years of diligent, important work 
protecting America's security, prosperity, and families. We have 
strengthened and improved health care for American seniors, funded the 
liberation of two enslaved nations, protected our homeland, outlawed 
partial-birth abortion and protected pregnant mothers, held the line on 
spending, and provided pro-growth tax relief to millions of American 
families.
  And this week, the House will finish its work on the most sweeping 
homeland security and intelligence reform legislation in decades: the 
9/11 Commission Implementation Act.
  When the 9/11 Commission first released its report, many sought for 
Congress to either rubber-stamp or reject outright the commission's 
findings. But we in the House took a novel approach: we read them. And 
we studied them, in six committees, in more than 20 hearings.
  The bill has been marked up by five full committees--Armed Services, 
Intelligence, Judiciary, Government Reform and Oversight, and Financial 
Services--and two more committees have approved it without markup. In 
other words, Mr. Speaker, we set out to craft a comprehensive, 
thoughtful, and valuable reform package, and that's exactly what we've 
got.
  The 9/11 Commission Implementation Act takes the findings of the 
commission, shapes them into legislative language, and then adds in 
necessary details where the report lacked specifics. The 9/11 
Commission's report is not just 41 recommendations. It is 567 pages of 
problems we face defending America. This bill goes right to those 
problems and begins the process of solving them one at a time.
  The bill will reform America's intelligence infrastructure by 
establishing a National Intelligence Director and a National Counter-
Terrorism Center, both strong recommendations of the commission. We 
will also include provisions that will help our intelligence and 
homeland security officers better fight terrorists, prevent them from 
ever endangering the American people, and prosecute those who do. And 
we will work to better secure our borders from penetration by 
terrorists, and make it easier for authorities to throw terrorists out 
once they do get in.
  These are important reforms, all necessary to the protection of the 
American people and our victory in the war on terror, the most critical 
priority of this Congress and the entire government. Passage of these 
reforms will mark a fitting close to the legislative session, and, I 
should add, the debate surrounding it

[[Page E1804]]

will serve--on its own--as a fitting reminder to the American people 
that those of us in Congress are more interested in winning the war 
than just winning the next election.

                          ____________________