{"database": "openregs", "table": "congressional_record", "rows": [["CREC-2004-12-20-pt1-PgE2204-2", "2004-12-20", 108, 2, null, null, "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)\n\n[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 140 (Monday, December 20, 2004)]\n[Extensions of Remarks]\n[Page E2204]\nFrom the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]\n\n    CONFERENCE REPORT ON S. 2845, INTELLIGENCE REFORM AND TERRORISM\n                         PREVENTION ACT OF 2004\n\n                                 ______\n\n                               speech of\n\n                             HON. TOM UDALL\n\n                             of new mexico\n\n                    in the house of representatives\n\n                       Tuesday, December 7, 2004\n\n  Mr. UDALL of New Mexico. Mr. Speaker, the Conference Report we have\nbefore us today is of great importance to the safety of our Nation and\nI would like to commend my colleagues involved with the negotiations of\nthis conference report for their diligent and tireless work.\n  Unfortunately, once again, the amount of time allotted for debate, as\nwell as the amount of time we had to try and determine what actually is\nin the conference report does not do justice to the important task at\nhand. We may sound like broken records on this point, but that's simply\nbecause the majority continues to undermine the democratic process by\nputting critically important pieces of legislation on the bullet-train\nfor passage.\n  Mr. Speaker, we are talking about no less than the most dramatic\nrestructuring of our Nation's intelligence community since the creation\nof the National Security Council and Central Intelligence Agency in\n1947. As such, each and every member of this body should have adequate\ntime to sift through this lengthy and important legislation in order to\nhave a full understanding of what exactly we are voting on tonight.\n  Nevertheless, as best as I have been able to determine from looking\nthrough the conference report thus far, it is a great improvement on\nthe politically driven, partisan legislation the House passed in\nOctober. The 9/11 Commissioners who made these important\nrecommendations support the conference report, as do families of the\nvictims of the 9/11 attacks. Although I plan to vote in support of this\nconference report, I will be doing so with great concern over several\nprovisions.\n  I have concerns that important civil liberty protection provisions\nhave been watered down. I am pleased that there is language in the\nconference report to establish a Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight\nBoard, but am concerned that it was not given enough independence from\nthe White House. The 9/11 Commission recommended the Board be given\nsubpoena power. This bill gives no such power. I will introduce\nlegislation in the 109th Congress to give the board this subpoena power\nit deserves to do its job. Also, Mr. Speaker, I am concerned that the\nsunset of specific provisions of the PATRIOT Act pertaining to\nfinancial institutions has been eliminated.\n  Despite these concerns, I believe this legislation is too important\nto the safety of our country and will therefore be voting in support of\nit. I do hope, however, as I recently stated during debate of a\ndifferent bill, that the majority will stop bringing legislation and\nconference reports to the floor in the manner that this was brought\nbefore us today. It is a subversion of the democratic process and it\nmust stop.\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-2004-12-20-pt1-PgE2204-2"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 6.663568085059524, "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"}