December 8, 2004 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD—SENATE 25775 I am not going to dwell on this other Senator WARNER, who stepped in to through to passage today and later sig- than to say it is people like him who lend an able hand in this last week; nature by the President of the United have such a love for this institution Senator JON KYL, whose patience has States. they have worked in, that even though been remarkable; Senator TED STE- f they leave, they are back. He had a VENS, our very experienced hand who INTELLIGENCE REFORM AND TER- very good business downtown but came has dealt with all of the programs RORISM PREVENTION ACT OF here all the time. under review in this bill for decades 2004—CONFERENCE REPORT As the Chaplain in his prayers talks and whose continued interest and lead- about the Senate family, Stan Kimmitt ership and focus on implementation of The PRESIDENT pro tempore. Under was truly a part of the Senate family. this bill will be absolutely critical; the previous order, the Senate will pro- I express my condolences on behalf of Senator TOM DASCHLE, who joined ceed to consideration of the conference the entire Senate to his wife and his hands with me and said right after the report to accompany S. 2845 which the family. report was released that we would clerk will report. The legislative clerk read as follows: The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The work together in a bipartisan way to majority leader is recognized. generate a complex bill in a responsive, The committee of conference on the dis- agreeing votes of the two Houses on the f expeditious way that would respond to amendment of the House to the bill (S. 2845) the recommendations put forth by the THE INTELLIGENCE REFORM BILL to reform the intelligence community and 9/11 Commission. the intelligence and intelligence-related ac- Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, today is a That product has been developed and tivities of the United States Government, signature day in what has been a Con- will be delivered to this body shortly and for other purposes, having met, have gress of milestone achievements. Our and will be voted on this afternoon. agreed that the Senate recede from its dis- last vote this year will be on one of the The legislation is not perfect. It does agreement to the amendment of the House most consequential legislative initia- and agree to the same with an amendment, not solve every problem. But the legis- and the House agree to the same, signed by tives of this session, intelligence re- lation was not designed to solve every a majority of the conferees on the part of form. The road to this moment has problem. Specific problems were identi- both Houses. been filled, as we have all witnessed fied by the work of the Commission (The conference report is printed in and participated in, twists and turns. and Congress in reviewing operations the House proceedings of the RECORD of Our hearts still run with the emotions in the intelligence community in the December 7, 2004.) of the attacks on our Nation on 9/11. years leading up to the 9/11 attacks. To The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Our sorrow became our resolve to pro- the best of our ability, we have pro- majority leader. tect our homeland with all of the tools duced legislation that, with the vision- Mr. FRIST. I suggest the absence of a that could possibly be at our disposal. ary leadership from the President and quorum. Under the President’s leadership, al- his Cabinet, will serve to make Amer- The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Qaida was chased from Afghanistan, ica safer. clerk will call the roll. and that country was freed. To head off I can’t emphasize that last point The legislative clerk proceeded to an imminent threat, our country top- enough. Today we are safer than we call the roll. pled Saddam Hussein from his dictator- were before 9/11, but we are not yet Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask ship in 3 short weeks. safe. Active and engaged Americans unanimous consent that the order for To begin the process of making our around the world and here at home are the quorum call be rescinded. country safer here at home, we created our first and our best line of defense The PRESIDENT pro tempore. With- the Department of Homeland Security. against a philosophy that seeks and is out objection, it is so ordered. Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, in a dis- And now we take another large step committed to doing us harm. This leg- cussion with the Democratic leader- forward—not the last, but another islation is an important tool in a war ship, we have come to an agreement large step forward—by recognizing that against terrorism, but it is not one- our intelligence community needed re- that gives us a pretty good template stop shopping for our country’s needs. for the organization during the course organization, responding to that reor- It should help in making sure that our ganization, and doing that reorganiza- of the day. This will be useful, and I intelligence assets are deployed wisely, will ask unanimous consent shortly to tion for the first time in 50 years. that information developed is shared Change is never easy—the summer and allocate time for the people who have broadly, that our strategy to fight this come forward and said they would like fall have been proof of that maxim— war evolves effectively, and it will ac- to speak prior to the vote. but big change is on the way for our in- complish those things. As part of this, the managers will telligence community, change that will The families who lost their parents, have time right before the vote—up to serve our country to make it safer and their children, their relatives, their 30 minutes, but probably that much more secure. close friends on that tragic day in New time will not be used before the vote— I can’t credit enough the careful and York and Pennsylvania and Wash- to add closing statements. thorough work of the chairman of the ington, all deserve our constant dedica- I ask unanimous consent that debate Senate Governmental Affairs Com- tion in the Congress to buttress the on the conference report be limited to mittee. At my request she cancelled all war on terror. This conference report is the list below: summer plans and, with her counter- our latest contribution, not our final Senator COLLINS will be controlling part on the Senate Governmental Af- contribution, to that conflict. No one 45 minutes; Senator LIEBERMAN, 45 fairs Committee, Senator LIEBERMAN, should have to suffer the horror and minutes; Senator BYRD, 120 minutes, to began work immediately on this crit- anguish of the 9/11 events again. begin at 12:30 p.m.; Senator STEVENS, 5 ical project, literally hours after the I will close by saying that when we minutes; Senator ROBERTS, 10 minutes; 9/11 Commission issued its report. act later today, we will have acted on Senator ROCKEFELLER, 10 minutes; Sen- From beginning to end she has brought that hope. We will have kept our ator DURBIN, 15 minutes; Senator WAR- her talents and skill to an extremely charge as Members to stand on behalf NER, 30 minutes; Senator LEVIN, 15 min- difficult issue. Chairman SUSAN COL- of America in her defense. And we will utes; Senator GRAHAM of Florida, 15 LINS demonstrated tremendous leader- have stood and made a lasting dif- minutes; Senator COLEMAN, 10 minutes; ship. The Senate and the Nation are in ference that is a fitting capstone to the Senator CARPER, 5 minutes; Senator her debt. 108th Congress. SPECTER, 20 minutes, and his comments This day cannot go by without also I thank all Members for their pa- will follow Senator LIEBERMAN’s com- thanking many other Members: Sen- tience. I appreciate them for their dili- ments this morning. ator LIEBERMAN, the ranking member; gence and dedication since the end of I further ask that following the use members of the Governmental Affairs July, working nonstop to bring this or yielding back of the time, the Sen- Committee, and the Senate conferees; bill to the floor and ultimately see it ate proceed to a vote on the adoption VerDate Aug 31 2005 10:19 Sep 10, 2008 Jkt 029102 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 0686 Sfmt 0634 E:\BR04\S08DE4.000 S08DE4 cprice-sewell on PROD1PC72 with BOUND RECORD 25776 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD—SENATE December 8, 2004 of the conference report, with no inter- The PRESIDENT pro tempore. I am when it comes to matters of national vening action or debate. informed that if one Senator does not security, there is no place for partisan- Mr. REID. Mr. President, reserving appear, or does not use his or her allo- ship. We worked from the very begin- the right to object, I will ask a couple cated time, that will not delay the Sen- ning to forge a bipartisan bill, and I am of things: One, that the time for ate from voting at the time specified. very pleased that the conference agree- quorum calls run off of the time equal- Mr. REID. Well, so there is no confu- ment we bring before the Senate today ly against everybody. I suggest that sion, it is my understanding this adds is a bipartisan agreement. I am con- those people who have time come over up to about 3:45 this afternoon. fident that later today it will receive a and use it.