Dreier Opening Statement on Democratic Resolution Creating New Intelligence Oversight Committee

Dreier Opening Statement on Democratic Resolution Creating New Intelligence Oversight Committee

Congressman David Dreier (R-San Dimas, CA), Rules Committee Ranking Republican gave the following opening statement today as he opened debate on H.Res.35, To Enhance Intelligence Oversight Authority.

"Madam Speaker, I rise today in opposition to H.Res.35, the Democratic resolution providing for a new oversight committee for national intelligence. The preamble to the Constitution establishes our most fundamental principles, including our responsibility to ‘provide for the common defense.' Part and parcel of that responsibility is effective oversight of the intelligence community, both to ensure its success and protect our liberties. The 9/11 Commission correctly identified significant deficiencies in our national intelligence apparatus and our oversight of those agencies.

"The 9/11 Commission made 41 separate recommendations. Through enactment of the USA PATRIOT Act, the Homeland Security Act, and the 9/11 Recommendation Implementation Act (on which I served as a conferee), the Republican Majority took affirmative steps to implement most of the Commission's recommendations.

"Is there more that remains to be done? Yes. As long as America has enemies, we will need to reevaluate and improve our defenses. Does the resolution before us do that? No, it does not.

"The 9/11 Commission recommended two options for intelligence oversight: (1) a joint committee based on the model of the old Joint Committee on Atomic Energy, or (2) "A single committee in each house of Congress, combining authorizing and appropriating authorities. The proposal in front of us today is neither of these recommendations.

"In fact, it goes in completely the opposite direction. Rather than consolidating oversight authority into a single committee that has both authorizing and appropriating authority, it just creates a new committee that has neither. So while the 9/11 commission recommended one committee, we will have three.

"Further, I am unsure as to what authority this committee will have. As far as I can tell, the only authority this committee has is to write a report to the same people who serve on the committee. It is essentially authorized to report to itself.

"And the 9/11 Commission was very specific about who should serve on the committee: ‘Four of the members appointed to this committee or committees should be a member who also serves on each of the following additional committees: Armed Services, Judiciary, Foreign Affairs, and the Defense Appropriations subcommittee.' Where are the members from the Armed Services Committee, the Judiciary Committee, or Foreign Affairs? How about the Homeland Security Committee, created after the Commission's report? Apparently, those aspects of our intelligence activities weren't important enough for the promised improved oversight.

"Now, did the Republicans enact every 9/11 commission recommendation exactly as they wrote it? No. We considered their recommendations and acted on most of them. In some cases, the Democrats voted against legislation implementing those recommendations. The Democrats, however, made a campaign promise to ‘make our nation safer … by implementing the recommendations of the independent, bipartisan 9/11 Commission.' It has taken just 2 days of their control to break that promise.

"Republicans made sure that there was good communication between the Administration, our authorizing committees and the Appropriations committee on intelligence matters. That has made a difference over the last few years.

"I don't believe that creating committees with both authorizing and appropriating authority is necessarily a good idea. It concentrates a lot of power and erodes some of the important checks and balances of the committee system.

"Finally, it's important to note that this resolution does away with even the pretense of bipartisanship. Unlike our resolution in the 109th Congress establishing the Bipartisan Katrina panel, this resolution authorizes the Speaker to appoint Republican members of the committee without any consultation with the Republican Leader. The tradition in the House is that each party caucus is responsible for its own appointments, and this resolution does away with that precedent.

"Unfortunately, I never got a chance to make those arguments where I should have had the opportunity — the Rules Committee. Despite the fact that this measure was referred to the Committee on Rules, the order of business for its consideration, adopted with only 10 minutes of debate last week, precludes any action by the Rules Committee, let alone Republican or Democratic amendments on the floor. So no one, not even the members of the Rules committee, has had an opportunity to work on this resolution.

"Madam Speaker, even if you believe that the Commission's recommendation was the right one, this resolution does not implement it. This is a bad resolution and a bad process, and I urge my colleagues to oppose it."

http://dreier.house.gov/releases/pr010907.html