--- Begin Message ---
-Caveat Lector-
Concerns similar to those expressed in retrospect re. the Patriot Act
which passed under great duress and without having been read by MANY if
not most of the lawmakers.
[courtesy of S. Culver]
=========================
Sens. Byrd and Stabenow re the
HOMELAND SECURITY ACT OF 2002 (Senate - November 14, 2002)
[excerpted from Congressional Record of 11/14/02, see bottom for URL]
---
Ms. (SENATOR) STABENOW, Michigan: ...as Senator Byrd has said so
many
times on the floor, we need to look at details. We need to know what is
in
this bill. It is a different bill that came back. I was deeply disturbed
as
I looked through it. I want to support homeland security. I support
developing a department. We all share that. This is not a partisan
issue.
We want to have maximum safety, security and ability, communicate it
effectively and efficiently, and create the kind of confidence people
expect us to create in terms of the ability to respond and ideally
prevent
attacks. But my fear is that under the name of homeland security we are
saying special interest provisions are put in this bill which are
outrageous and should not have the light of day. I think it is our
responsibility to shine the light of day on those provisions.
---
Senator Robert Byrd:
"I remember years ago, when I was in the House of Representatives,
sending
out a little booklet to the people in my then-congressional district of
how
our laws are made ...[describes the process of hearings, committees,
debate, reports, etc. etc.]... we all remember how those laws are made
according to the script as prepared there in those handsome little
booklets
that we send out. That is how the American people expect this Congress
to
operate. That is the way we are supposed to operate.
But the way this bill was brought in here, less than 48 hours ago, a
brand-new bill. It had not been before any committee. It had undergone
no
hearings, not this bill. It is a bill on our desks that has 484 pages.
There are 484 pages in this bill.
It has not been before any committee. There have been no hearings on
this
bill. There have been no witnesses who were asked to appear to testify
on
behalf of the bill or in opposition to it. It did not undergo any such
scrutiny.
It was just placed on the Senate Calendar. It was offered as an
amendment
here. And so here it is before the Senate now. There it is. That is not
the
way in which our children are taught how we make our laws--not at all.
The American people expect us to provide our best judgment and our best
insight into such monumental decisions. This is a far, far cry from
being
our best. This is not our best. As a matter of fact, it is a mere shadow
of
our best. Yet we are being asked, as the elected representatives of the
American people, those of us who are sent here by our respective States
are
being asked on tomorrow to invoke closure on these 484 pages.
If I had to go before the bar of judgment tomorrow and were asked by the
eternal God what is in this bill, I could not answer God. If I were
asked
by the people of West Virginia, Senator Byrd, what is in that bill, I
could
not answer. I could not tell the people of West Virginia what is in this
bill.
There are a few things that I know are in it by virtue of the fact that
I
have had 48 hours, sleeping time included, in which to study this
monstrosity, 484 pages. If there ever were a monstrosity, this is it. I
hold it in my hand, a monstrosity. I don't know what is in it. I know a
few
things that are in it, and a few things that I know are in it that I
don't
think the American people would approve of if they knew what was in
there.
Even Senator Lieberman, who is chairman of the committee which has
jurisdiction over this subject matter, even he saw new provisions in
this
legislation as he looked through it yesterday and today. As his staff
looked through it, they saw provisions they had not seen before, that
they
had not discussed before, that had not been before their committee
before.
Yet we are being asked on tomorrow to invoke cloture on that which means
we
are not going to debate in the normal course of things. We are going to
have 30 hours of debate. That is it, 30 hours. That is all, 30 hours;
100
Senators, 30 hours of debate.
And this is one of the most far-reaching pieces of legislation I have
seen
in my 50 years. I will have been in Congress 50 years come January 3...
...
Never have I seen such a monstrous piece of legislation sent to this
body.
And we are being asked to vote on that 484 pages tomorrow. Our poor
staffs
were up most of the night studying it. They know some of the things that
are in there, but they don't know all of them. It is a sham and it is a
shame.
We are all complicit in going along with it. I read in the paper that
nobody will have the courage to vote against it. Well, ROBERT BYRD is
going
to vote against it because I don't know what I am voting for. That is
one
thing. And No. 2, it has not had the scrutiny that we tell our young
people, that we tell these sweet pages here, boys and girls who come up
here, we tell them our laws should have.
Listen, my friends: I am an old meatcutter. I used to make sausage. Let
me
tell you, I never made sausage like this thing was made. You don't know
what is in it. At least I knew what was in the sausage. I don't know
what
is in this bill. I am not going to vote for it when I don't know what is
in
it. I trust that people tomorrow will turn thumbs down on that motion to
invoke cloture. It is our duty.
We ought to demand that this piece of legislation stay around here a
while
so we can study it, so our staffs can study it, so we know what is in
it,
so we can have an opportunity to amend it where it needs amending.
Several Senators have indicated, Senator Lieberman among them, that
there
are areas in here that ought to be amended. What the people of the
United
States really care about is their security. That is what we are talking
about. We don't know when another tragic event is going to be visited
upon
this country. It can be this evening, it can be tomorrow, or whatever.
But
this legislation is not going to be worth a continental dime if it
happens
tonight, tomorrow, a month from tomorrow; it is not going to be worth a
dime. There are people out there working now to secure this country and
the
people. They are the same people who are already on the payroll. They
are
doing their duty right now to secure this country.
This is a hoax. This is a hoax. To tell the American people they are
going
to be safer when we pass this is to hoax. We ought to tell the people
the
truth. They are not going to be any safer with that. That is not the
truth.
I was one of the first in the Senate to say we need a new Department of
Homeland Security. I meant that. But I didn't mean this particular hoax
that this administration is trying to pander off to the American people,
telling them this is homeland security. That is not homeland security.
Mr.
President, the Attorney General and Director of Homeland Security have
told
Americans repeatedly there is an imminent risk of another terrorist
attack.
Just within the past day, or few hours, the FBI has put hospitals in the
Washington area, Houston, San Francisco, and Chicago on notice of a
possible terrorist threat.
This bill does nothing--not a thing--to make our citizens more secure
today
or tomorrow. This bill does not even go into effect for up to 12 months.
It
will be 12 months before this goes into effect. The bill just moves
around
on an organizational chart. That is what it does--moves around on an
organizational chart.
...
The Senate Appropriations Committee, on which Senator Stevens and I
sit,
along with 27 other Senators, including the distinguished Senator who
presides over the Chamber at this moment, the Senator from Rhode Island,
Mr. Reed, tried to provide funds to programs to hire more FBI agents, to
hire more border patrol agents, to equip and train our first responders,
to
improve security at our nuclear powerplants, to improve bomb detection
at
our airports. That committee of 29 Senators--15 Democrats and 14
Republicans--voted to provide the funds for these homeland security
needs.
Those funds have been in bills that have been out there for 4 months.
But the President said no--no, he would not sign it. President Bush is
the
man I am talking about. He would not sign that as an emergency. These
moneys have been reported by a unanimous Appropriations Committee. But
this
administration said no. So that is what happened. These are actions that
would make America more secure today. Did the President help us to
approve
these funds? No. Instead, the President forced us--forced us--to reduce
homeland security funding by $8.9 billion, and he delayed another $5
billion. This is shameful; this is cynical; this is being irresponsible.
It
is unfair to the American people. And then to tell them Congress ought
to
pass that homeland security bill--that is passing the buck.
Mr. President, I call attention to a column in the New York Times. This
is
entitled ``You Are A Suspect.'' It is by William Safire. I will read it:
"If the homeland security act is not amended before passage, here is
what
will happen to you:" Listen, Senators. This is what William Safire is
saying in the New York Times of November 14, 2002. That is today. This
is
what the New York Times is saying to you, to me, to us: "If the Homeland
Security Act is not amended before passage, here is what will happen to
you: Every purchase you make"-- Hear me now-- "Every purchase you make
with
a credit card, every magazine subscription you buy and medical
prescription
you fill, every Web site you visit and e-mail you send or receive, every
academic grade you receive, every bank deposit you make, every trip you
book and every event you attend--all these transactions and
communications
will go into what the Defense Department describes as ``a virtual,
centralized grand database.'' ... "Political awareness can overcome
"Total
Information Awareness," the combined force of commercial and government
snooping. In a similar overreach, Attorney General Ashcroft tried his
Terrorism Information and Prevention System (TIPS), but public outrage
at
the use of gossips and postal workers as snoops caused the House to
shoot
it down. The Senate should now do the same to this other exploitation of
fear." [ see complete Safire article at
http://www.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=217133 ; Byrd reads the
entire article to the Senate]
If the American people, if the American public is to believe what
they
read in this week's newspapers, the Congress stands ready to pass
legislation to create a new Department of Homeland Security. Not with my
vote. Passage of such legislation would be the answer to the universal
battle cry that this administration adopted shortly after the September
11
attacks: Reorganize the Federal Government.
How is it that the Bush administration's No. 1 priority has evolved
into
a plan to create a giant, huge bureaucracy? How is it that the Congress
bought into the belief that to take a plethora of Federal agencies and
departments and shuffle them around would make us safer from future
terrorist attacks?..."
--------------
[aboveexcerpted from very long sections by
Senator Robert Byrd]
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