congressional_record: CREC-2004-12-20-pt1-PgE2204-2
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| granule_id | date | congress | session | volume | issue | title | chamber | granule_class | sub_granule_class | page_start | page_end | speakers | bills | citation | full_text |
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| CREC-2004-12-20-pt1-PgE2204-2 | 2004-12-20 | 108 | 2 | CONFERENCE REPORT ON S. 2845, INTELLIGENCE REFORM AND TERRORISM PREVENTION ACT OF 2004 | HOUSE | EXTENSIONS | ALLOTHER | E2204 | E2204 | [{"name": "Tom Udall", "role": "speaking"}] | [{"congress": "108", "type": "S", "number": "2845"}] | 150 Cong. Rec. E2204 | Congressional Record, Volume 150 Issue 140 (Monday, December 20, 2004) [Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 140 (Monday, December 20, 2004)] [Extensions of Remarks] [Page E2204] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov] CONFERENCE REPORT ON S. 2845, INTELLIGENCE REFORM AND TERRORISM PREVENTION ACT OF 2004 ______ speech of HON. TOM UDALL of new mexico in the house of representatives Tuesday, December 7, 2004 Mr. UDALL of New Mexico. Mr. Speaker, the Conference Report we have before us today is of great importance to the safety of our Nation and I would like to commend my colleagues involved with the negotiations of this conference report for their diligent and tireless work. Unfortunately, once again, the amount of time allotted for debate, as well as the amount of time we had to try and determine what actually is in the conference report does not do justice to the important task at hand. We may sound like broken records on this point, but that's simply because the majority continues to undermine the democratic process by putting critically important pieces of legislation on the bullet-train for passage. Mr. Speaker, we are talking about no less than the most dramatic restructuring of our Nation's intelligence community since the creation of the National Security Council and Central Intelligence Agency in 1947. As such, each and every member of this body should have adequate time to sift through this lengthy and important legislation in order to have a full understanding of what exactly we are voting on tonight. Nevertheless, as best as I have been able to determine from looking through the conference report thus far, it is a great improvement on the politically driven, partisan legislation the House passed in October. The 9/11 Commissioners who made these important recommendations support the conference report, as do families of the victims of the 9/11 attacks. Although I plan to vote in support of this conference report, I will be doing so with great concern over several provisions. I have concerns that important civil liberty protection provisions have been watered down. I am pleased that there is language in the conference report to establish a Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, but am concerned that it was not given enough independence from the White House. The 9/11 Commission recommended the Board be given subpoena power. This bill gives no such power. I will introduce legislation in the 109th Congress to give the board this subpoena power it deserves to do its job. Also, Mr. Speaker, I am concerned that the sunset of specific provisions of the PATRIOT Act pertaining to financial institutions has been eliminated. Despite these concerns, I believe this legislation is too important to the safety of our country and will therefore be voting in support of it. I do hope, however, as I recently stated during debate of a different bill, that the majority will stop bringing legislation and conference reports to the floor in the manner that this was brought before us today. It is a subversion of the democratic process and it must stop. ____________________ |