[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 13]
[Senate]
[Pages 17643-17644]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   UNANIMOUS-CONSENT REQUEST--H.R. 1

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, despite the fact that we are fast 
approaching the 6-year anniversary since the terrorist attacks of 
September 11, it is painfully clear that we have a lot of work to do to 
protect this Nation from further terrorist attacks. The threats are 
real, they are growing, and when Democrats took control of the Congress 
at the start of this year, we said we would implement the unanimous 
recommendation of the bipartisan 9/11 Commission. That matter passed 
this body by a big vote. That is where we said we should implement into 
law the 9/11 Commission recommendations. Democrats voted for that, and 
Republicans voted for it. It was one of the first bills we passed at 
the start of this session of Congress. The House passed its version of 
the bill on January 9. The Senate passed our bill on March 13. The 
House bill was 299 to 128; ours was 60 to 38.
  As my colleagues know, Democrats and Republicans who serve on the 
House and Senate committees with jurisdiction over this bill have 
worked tirelessly to resolve the differences on these two bills. I 
myself have spoken to Chairman Lieberman, I don't think it is an 
exaggeration to say a dozen times. The American people expect us to 
finish this work quickly, and that is why we believe we need to take 
the next procedural step as part of our regular order, which is to 
appoint conferees to finish these negotiations.
  When this bill is signed into law, it will make America more secure. 
It will improve the screening of maritime cargo so that Americans can 
be assured we are doing all we can to prevent the smuggling of weapons 
into this country, including nuclear weapons. It will improve the 
congressional oversight of intelligence to ensure we are building the 
best capabilities possible to stop terrorist attacks. It will improve 
information sharing and communications interoperability among first 
responders so that they can work swiftly to prevent terrorist attacks. 
It will ensure that transportation and mass-transit structures are 
hardened against terrorist attacks.
  This legislation wasn't something a couple of Senators dreamed up. It 
was the recommendations of the bipartisan

[[Page 17644]]

9/11 Commission, chaired by Governor Kean and cochaired by Congressman 
Hamilton, a Republican and a Democrat. This is what we are doing. We 
are long past when we should have done this. We need to do this.
  I make the following request, Mr. President: I ask unanimous consent 
that the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee be 
discharged from further consideration of H.R. 1 and that the Senate 
then proceed to its consideration; that all after the enacting clause 
be stricken and the text of S.4, as passed by the Senate on March 13, 
2007, be inserted in lieu thereof; that the bill be read a third time, 
passed, and the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table; that the 
Senate insist on its amendment, request a conference with the House on 
the disagreeing votes of the two Houses, and the Chair be authorized to 
appoint conferees on the part of the Senate, with the above occurring 
with no intervening action or debate.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, reserving the right to object, the 
leadership has been continuing to consult with our colleagues who are 
working on this legislation, and I have the impression, from talking to 
Members who are involved, that they have done a lot of good work and 
perhaps have made some progress that will lead to being able to get a 
conference and act on it. They have been discussing some very 
significant issues.
  One of the problems that I recall is that this legislation went well 
beyond what was just in the 9/11 Commission recommendations, and that 
is a major part of the problem. There was some other language that was 
of great concern and could lead this bill to be vetoed by the 
President, but he does not want to veto it, and we want to get a bill 
that we can agree on that can become law. We all want to strengthen our 
homeland security, but, as quite often is the case in the Congress--the 
House or the Senate or the both of us--we put language in these bills 
that is problematic and, in my opinion and others, counterproductive. 
So we don't want to get to a point where we can't get an agreement or 
get a bill signed into law and have to start back at square one.
  I wish to emphasize that the impression of the leadership--and that 
is whom I am speaking for here--is that they are working and making 
progress, and we hope they will continue to do that and get a good, 
productive, and bipartisan agreement.
  At this point, I must object.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard.
  Mr. REID. I, of course, am very disappointed my Republican colleague 
has chosen to object to this request on moving forward on the 9/11 
Commission recommendations bill. The minority stated yesterday that 
they had a problem with the bill. We agreed to take that out of the 
bill. I don't know how much more we can do.
  It appears to me there are forces within the Republican Senate that 
simply don't want this bill enacted. This is really too bad. As my 
friend--and we have worked together on this Senate floor, my friend, 
the junior Senator from Mississippi, we have worked on this floor 
together for many years. When he was the majority leader, we worked 
together in detail on so many different issues, so this is not directed 
toward him. But I do say that there have been procedural roadblocks 
thrown up in front of virtually everything we have tried to do in the 
Senate this year. I was hoping we could reconsider this obstructionism 
when it comes to moving legislation that would make America more 
secure. Every day we wait on this is another day for the terrorists. 
For example, I talked about cargo screening. Other countries do it, but 
we don't.
  These phantom issues which are blocking this bill do not exist. This 
is a bill which the managers, Senator Lieberman and others, have worked 
out. We could go to conference and do this bill in one-half hour, an 
hour. And this is a real conference where conferees would sit down, 
there would be open debate, public debate, there is nothing to jam this 
through. This is the way we should do things.
  The 9/11 victims' families have organizations, and these family 
representatives are calling for all parties to move this forward, and 
we are listening to them. This bill needs to pass. We are willing to be 
flexible. We have shown that. I would hope my Republican colleagues and 
the administration will demonstrate what they do not like about this 
bill, and what they do not like about it, tell us. This bill is 
important. It is important for me and my family, every Senator here and 
their families, everybody in this country, and every day we don't do 
something is a day lost.
  I can assure my Republican colleague that Senator Lieberman, our lead 
conferee, as well as the rest of our conferees will continue to work in 
a bipartisan manner, as they have to date. So I am very disappointed 
the Republicans are still objecting to moving the process forward on 
this bill. I say to my colleagues and to all Americans that I will be 
back on the floor again and again until our Republican friends allow us 
to move forward.
  I do say, Mr. President, that it is a real shame we can't get this 
done before the Fourth of July recess. I am not exaggerating when I say 
this bill needs to be done. I think, without going into any 
confidential information, this bill should pass. We should do it as 
soon as we can. I urge my friend to speak to whomever needs to be 
spoken to on the other side to reconsider their objection.
  Tomorrow, let us move this bill. It is Thursday. We could complete 
this before we go home, and it would be a day of celebration for all 
America that we are implementing the 9/11 Commission recommendations.

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