[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 11]
[House]
[Page 15253]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




          SMART SECURITY AND POSTPONEMENT OF NOVEMBER ELECTION

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Gingrey). Under a previous order of the 
House, the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Woolsey) is recognized for 
5 minutes.
  Ms. WOOLSEY. Mr. Speaker, earlier this week, DeForest Soaries, 
chairman of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission and a Bush 
appointee, and I emphasize ``and a Bush appointee,'' asked Homeland 
Security Secretary Tom Ridge to consider seeking the authority to 
postpone a Federal election. Specifically, he wants Ridge to push for 
legislation that will give his agency the authority to reschedule the 
November 2 Presidential election in the event of a terrorist threat or 
attack sometime near the election.
  As a result of his request, the Department of Homeland Security asked 
the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel to analyze what steps 
would need to be taken to postpone this year's Presidential election, 
what steps would need to be taken to postpone this year's Presidential 
election.
  Mr. Speaker, this is nothing short of outrageous. I am appalled that 
this request is even being considered. The postponement of a 
Presidential election would present the greatest threat to date to our 
democratic process. It would be an admission of defeat to the 
terrorists, inviting them to disrupt this election of our highest 
leader.
  Mr. SKELTON. Mr. Speaker, will the gentlewoman yield?
  Ms. WOOLSEY. I yield to the gentleman from Missouri.
  Mr. SKELTON. Mr. Speaker, I certainly agree with the gentlewoman and 
wish to point out the fact that during the War Between the States the 
Presidential election continued on.
  Ms. WOOLSEY. I am going to actually address that in a little bit.
  It would also be unprecedented in our Nation's history.
  Actually, in early 1864, as the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Skelton) 
just referred, President Abraham Lincoln feared that he would lose the 
Presidency due to widespread criticism of his handling of the Civil 
War. No President had won a second term since Andrew Jackson more than 
30 years prior, and the Union had recently suffered a string of 
military disappointments.
  Many of Lincoln's closest advisers urged him to postpone the 
election, but Abraham Lincoln never even considered that possibility, 
nor should we.
  In response to calls for postponing the Presidential election, 
President Lincoln said the following in November of 1864: ``We cannot 
have free government without elections; and if the rebellion could 
force us to forego or postpone a national election, it might already 
fairly claim to have conquered or ruined us.''
  The fight against terrorism, like the Civil War, will affect more 
than a generation of Americans, but we must be smart, smart about how 
we address the threat of terrorism, and we must make sure that in this 
long fight we do not lose what we are fighting for in the first place.
  There must be a way to both fight terrorism and also hold on to 
democratic ideals that make our country great, and Mr. Speaker, there 
is.
  I have introduced H. Con. Res. 392, the SMART security resolution, 
which provides a better way to address the threat of terrorism. SMART 
stands for Sensible, Multilateral, American Response to Terrorism.
  Preventing future acts of terrorism, SMART security is more vigilant 
than the President on fighting terror. Instead of emphasizing military 
force, it focuses on multilateral partnership and stronger intelligence 
capabilities to track and detain terrorists.
  Unlike the defective and obtrusive USA Patriot Act, SMART security 
focuses on tracking and arresting those involved in terrorist attacks, 
while respecting human and civil rights.
  Terrorism is an international problem, we all know that. So the fight 
against terrorism must involve the international community. That is why 
SMART security calls for working closely with the U.N. and NATO to 
achieve its goal. Only by actively involving other Nations in this 
fight can we hope to prevent future acts of terrorism.
  In the spirit of being smart about our national security, I have 
written a letter to Secretary Ridge that has been signed by over 100 
Members of Congress requesting that Secretary Ridge take no further 
steps to postpone this year's Presidential election. Wars, droughts, 
floods and hurricanes have not stopped elections, and the possibility 
of a terrorist attack must not stop one either. We cannot forget that 
elections are the very basis upon which our great American democracy 
was founded.
  To ensure that the upcoming Presidential election is not postponed by 
the alarmist Bush administration, I urge all of my colleagues to add 
their signatures to this important letter to Secretary Ridge.

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