[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 135 (Saturday, November 20, 2004)]
[Senate]
[Page S11795]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          INTELLIGENCE REFORM

  Mr. LAUTENBERG. Mr. President, earlier today, we were led to believe 
that we had an agreement with House conferees to pass a bill that will 
reform our intelligence community and make America safer from the 
threat of terrorism. Now we find out that House Republicans have killed 
the bill.
  This morning, I was one of 11 Senate conferees--6 Republicans, 5 
Democrats--who signed the conference report to the Intelligence Reform 
bill.
  Remember: the conference report is to a bill the Senate passed 96-2. 
The bill the Senate passed, in turn, was based on the recommendations 
of a unanimous 9/11 Commission--5 Republicans, 5 Democrats.
  Now, we find out that House Republican conferees have rejected the 
conference report. They have snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.
  From what I gather, the problem is not with House Intelligence 
Committee Chairman Hoekstra, who has been leading the conference 
committee.
  What these House Republican conferees have done is a slap in the face 
of the Senate, the bipartisan 9/11 Commission, and the 9/11 families 
who have worked so hard to make something positive happen in the wake 
of a horrific national tragedy.
  New Jersey lost 700 of its citizens on 9/11; I have to wonder if 
these House Republican conferees would be behaving differently if they 
went through what we in New Jersey went through.
  I have been in the U.S. Senate for 20 years now. I have been involved 
in my share of conference committees. In all those years, I don't 
believe I have ever seen a little cabal of Members act more 
unreasonably. These House Republican conferees have killed a bill that 
16 of 21 conferees have voted for. Talk about obstructionism.
  The fact of the matter is that the conference report we were poised 
to adopt today is a far cry from the 9/11 Commission recommendations 
and the bill the Senate passed so overwhelmingly. But there is enough 
in the conference report to merit going forward. It creates a National 
Director of Intelligence with real budget authority; it creates a 
National Counter-Terrorism Center; it bolsters border and 
transportation security. And it has some provisions to safeguard our 
civil liberties.
  It is time for truth-telling here. House Republicans and the Bush 
administration have been opposed to this bill from the start. And now 
they have gotten their way.
  I think it is incumbent for the President and for the House 
Republican conferees who have killed this bill to sit down in person 
with the 9/11 families, look them in the eye, and tell them that the 
status quo--that doing nothing--is better than passing a bill so many 
people worked so long and hard to get.
  We are told that we won't adjourn sine die today; that we will come 
back on December 6 to give the conferees more time to reach an 
agreement.
  The House Republican conferees are absolutely intransigent. It is 
hard for me to believe that we will be any more successful in the next 
few weeks than we have been in the past several weeks. I hope I am 
wrong, but given the President's complete lack of leadership on this 
matter, it is hard for me to be optimistic.
  I have to say I think what has happened is totally contrary to the 
principles of our democracy, as we turn the power of the people over to 
a couple of bullies who refused to accept a virtually unanimous vote of 
the U.S. Senate, the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission, and the 
will of the largest share of the American people as expressed by their 
elected representatives.

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