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No Deal on the 9/11 Intelligence Reform
GOP lawmakers block 9/11 reforms
Leaders: Will try again in December
Saturday, November 20, 2004 Posted: 4:49 PM EST (2149 GMT)
WASHINGTON (AP) -- House Republicans on Saturday blocked passage of legislation addressing the September 11 Commission's terror-fighting recommendations to President Bush, but GOP leaders said they would press the effort later this year.
However, the failure to get an agreement in Congress' postelection session most likely means the legislation will die for the year.
"It's hard to reform. It's hard to make changes," Speaker Dennis Hastert said as House members left town after a rare weekend session.
But Hastert and other GOP leaders insist that the bill still has a chance since the House and Senate will not officially end their legislative year until December.
"Our members want us to continue, the speaker wants us to continue to negotiate and so does the Senate, so we're going to continue to negotiate and see if we can get a bill in December," said House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas.
Delay said that Reps. Duncan Hunter, R-California, and James Sensenbrenner, R-Wisconsin, had not agreed to a compromise reached earlier Saturday and he wanted their approval before the House moved forward.
Hastert said Hunter had concerns that shifting some intelligence operations from the Pentagon could hurt combat troops. Hastert said lawmakers want to "make sure that our men and women who serve this country have the real-time intelligence that they need."
If lawmakers fail to reach an agreement his year, they will render moot three months of hearings and negotiations that started with the commission's July release of its report studying the September 11 terrorist attacks. Lawmakers would have to start from scratch next year -- if they even pick up the issue again. With a new Congress taking office in January, unapproved bills expire and new lawmakers and committee leaders would have to consider any new legislation.
Military, immigration concerns
Lawmakers thought they had a deal Saturday.
"Give me a cigar," said the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kansas. He flashed a "V" for victory with his hand after signing off on the deal.
Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, one of the lawmakers involved in the talks, said Bush had been in touch with negotiators by telephone from Chile, where he was attending a meeting of leaders from Asian and Pacific nations. Administration officials also said the president supported the compromise.
The commission, a bipartisan group that sharply criticized the performance of intelligence agencies, also endorsed the emerging compromise.
The deal "contains not only major reforms of the intelligence community, but significant measures to improve aviation and border security, and emergency preparedness and response," the commission's leaders, Thomas Kean and Lee Hamilton, said in a statement.
But critics led by Hunter said the bill would interfere with the chain of military command and potentially place troops at risk in combat. Other opponents, including Sensenbrenner, were unhappy that the bill did not go further to change immigration laws.
A final agreement on legislation has been held up for weeks while House and Senate negotiators wrangled over those issues, as well as how much control the new intelligence director should have over budget matters and whether terrorists should face stiffer penalties.
The fate of those issues in Saturday's compromise was not immediately known. But senators said many of the immigration provisions, including the House's ideas about speedy deportations and handling of immigrants seeking political asylum, were gone from the bill.
The agreement had been reached between Collins and Democrat Joe Lieberman of Connecticut -- the lead Senate negotiators -- and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Pete Hoekstra, R-Michigan, and Rep. Jane Harman, D-California, early Saturday.
Copyright 2004 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
House Speaker Dennis Hastert: Congress has not reached agreement on intelligence reform.
Leaders: Will try again in December
Saturday, November 20, 2004 Posted: 4:49 PM EST (2149 GMT)
WASHINGTON (AP) -- House Republicans on Saturday blocked passage of legislation addressing the September 11 Commission's terror-fighting recommendations to President Bush, but GOP leaders said they would press the effort later this year.
However, the failure to get an agreement in Congress' postelection session most likely means the legislation will die for the year.
"It's hard to reform. It's hard to make changes," Speaker Dennis Hastert said as House members left town after a rare weekend session.
But Hastert and other GOP leaders insist that the bill still has a chance since the House and Senate will not officially end their legislative year until December.
"Our members want us to continue, the speaker wants us to continue to negotiate and so does the Senate, so we're going to continue to negotiate and see if we can get a bill in December," said House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas.
Delay said that Reps. Duncan Hunter, R-California, and James Sensenbrenner, R-Wisconsin, had not agreed to a compromise reached earlier Saturday and he wanted their approval before the House moved forward.
Hastert said Hunter had concerns that shifting some intelligence operations from the Pentagon could hurt combat troops. Hastert said lawmakers want to "make sure that our men and women who serve this country have the real-time intelligence that they need."
If lawmakers fail to reach an agreement his year, they will render moot three months of hearings and negotiations that started with the commission's July release of its report studying the September 11 terrorist attacks. Lawmakers would have to start from scratch next year -- if they even pick up the issue again. With a new Congress taking office in January, unapproved bills expire and new lawmakers and committee leaders would have to consider any new legislation.
Military, immigration concerns
Lawmakers thought they had a deal Saturday.
"Give me a cigar," said the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kansas. He flashed a "V" for victory with his hand after signing off on the deal.
Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, one of the lawmakers involved in the talks, said Bush had been in touch with negotiators by telephone from Chile, where he was attending a meeting of leaders from Asian and Pacific nations. Administration officials also said the president supported the compromise.
The commission, a bipartisan group that sharply criticized the performance of intelligence agencies, also endorsed the emerging compromise.
The deal "contains not only major reforms of the intelligence community, but significant measures to improve aviation and border security, and emergency preparedness and response," the commission's leaders, Thomas Kean and Lee Hamilton, said in a statement.
But critics led by Hunter said the bill would interfere with the chain of military command and potentially place troops at risk in combat. Other opponents, including Sensenbrenner, were unhappy that the bill did not go further to change immigration laws.
A final agreement on legislation has been held up for weeks while House and Senate negotiators wrangled over those issues, as well as how much control the new intelligence director should have over budget matters and whether terrorists should face stiffer penalties.
The fate of those issues in Saturday's compromise was not immediately known. But senators said many of the immigration provisions, including the House's ideas about speedy deportations and handling of immigrants seeking political asylum, were gone from the bill.
The agreement had been reached between Collins and Democrat Joe Lieberman of Connecticut -- the lead Senate negotiators -- and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Pete Hoekstra, R-Michigan, and Rep. Jane Harman, D-California, early Saturday.
Copyright 2004 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
House Speaker Dennis Hastert: Congress has not reached agreement on intelligence reform.