{"database": "openregs", "table": "congressional_record", "rows": [["CREC-2004-12-08-pt1-PgS11938-7", "2004-12-08", 108, 2, null, null, "THE INTELLIGENCE REFORM BILL", "SENATE", "SENATE", "ALLOTHER", "S11938", "S11939", "[{\"name\": \"William H. Frist\", \"role\": \"speaking\"}]", null, "150 Cong. Rec. S11938", "Congressional Record, Volume 150 Issue 139 (Wednesday, December 8, 2004)\n\n[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 139 (Wednesday, December 8, 2004)]\n[Senate]\n[Pages S11938-S11939]\nFrom the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]\n\n                      THE INTELLIGENCE REFORM BILL\n\n  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, today is a signature day in what has been a\nCongress of milestone achievements. Our last vote this year will be on\none of the most consequential legislative initiatives of this session,\nintelligence reform. The road to this moment has been filled, as we\nhave all witnessed and participated in, twists and turns. Our hearts\nstill run with the emotions of the attacks on our Nation on 9/11. Our\nsorrow became our resolve to protect our homeland with all of the tools\nthat could possibly be at our disposal.\n  Under the President's leadership, al-Qaida was chased from\nAfghanistan, and that country was freed. To head off an imminent\nthreat, our country toppled Saddam Hussein from his dictatorship in 3\nshort weeks.\n  To begin the process of making our country safer here at home, we\ncreated the Department of Homeland Security. And now we take another\nlarge step forward--not the last, but another large step forward--by\nrecognizing that our intelligence community needed reorganization,\nresponding to that reorganization, and doing that reorganization for\nthe first time in 50 years. Change is never easy--the summer and fall\nhave been proof of that maxim--but big change is on the way for our\nintelligence community, change that will serve our country to make it\nsafer and more secure.\n  I can't credit enough the careful and thorough work of the chairman\nof the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee. At my request she\ncancelled all summer plans and, with her counterpart on the Senate\nGovernmental Affairs Committee, Senator Lieberman,\n\n[[Page S11939]]\n\nbegan work immediately on this critical project, literally hours after\nthe\n9/11 Commission issued its report. From beginning to end she has\nbrought her talents and skill to an extremely difficult issue. Chairman\nSusan Collins demonstrated tremendous leadership. The Senate and the\nNation are in her debt.\n  This day cannot go by without also thanking many other Members:\nSenator Lieberman, the ranking member; members of the Governmental\nAffairs Committee, and the Senate conferees; Senator Warner, who\nstepped in to lend an able hand in this last week; Senator Jon Kyl,\nwhose patience has been remarkable; Senator Ted Stevens, our very\nexperienced hand who has dealt with all of the programs under review in\nthis bill for decades and whose continued interest and leadership and\nfocus on implementation of this bill will be absolutely critical;\nSenator Tom Daschle, who joined hands with me and said right after the\nreport was released that we would work together in a bipartisan way to\ngenerate a complex bill in a responsive, expeditious way that would\nrespond to the recommendations put forth by the 9/11 Commission.\n  That product has been developed and will be delivered to this body\nshortly and will be voted on this afternoon. The legislation is not\nperfect. It does not solve every problem. But the legislation was not\ndesigned to solve every problem. Specific problems were identified by\nthe work of the Commission and Congress in reviewing operations in the\nintelligence community in the years leading up to the 9/11 attacks. To\nthe best of our ability, we have produced legislation that, with the\nvisionary leadership from the President and his Cabinet, will serve to\nmake America safer.\n  I can't emphasize that last point enough. Today we are safer than we\nwere before 9/11, but we are not yet safe. Active and engaged Americans\naround the world and here at home are our first and our best line of\ndefense against a philosophy that seeks and is committed to doing us\nharm. This legislation is an important tool in a war against terrorism,\nbut it is not one-stop shopping for our country's needs. It should help\nin making sure that our intelligence assets are deployed wisely, that\ninformation developed is shared broadly, that our strategy to fight\nthis war evolves effectively, and it will accomplish those things.\n  The families who lost their parents, their children, their relatives,\ntheir close friends on that tragic day in New York and Pennsylvania and\nWashington, all deserve our constant dedication in the Congress to\nbuttress the war on terror. This conference report is our latest\ncontribution, not our final contribution, to that conflict. No one\nshould have to suffer the horror and anguish of the 9/11 events again.\n\n  I will close by saying that when we act later today, we will have\nacted on that hope. We will have kept our charge as Members to stand on\nbehalf of America in her defense. And we will have stood and made a\nlasting difference that is a fitting capstone to the 108th Congress.\n  I thank all Members for their patience. I appreciate them for their\ndiligence and dedication since the end of July, working nonstop to\nbring this bill to the floor and ultimately see it through to passage\ntoday and later signature by the President of the United States.\n\n                          ____________________"]], "columns": ["granule_id", "date", "congress", "session", "volume", "issue", "title", "chamber", "granule_class", "sub_granule_class", "page_start", "page_end", "speakers", "bills", "citation", "full_text"], "primary_keys": ["granule_id"], "primary_key_values": ["CREC-2004-12-08-pt1-PgS11938-7"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.391209963709116, "source": "Federal Register API & Regulations.gov API", "source_url": "https://www.federalregister.gov/developers/api/v1", "license": "Public Domain (U.S. Government data)", "license_url": "https://www.regulations.gov/faq"}