Hearing of the Committtee on Government Affairs - Voicing the Need for Reform, The Families of 9/11

Federal News Service

HEADLINE: HEARING OF THE COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS

SUBJECT: VOICING THE NEED FOR REFORM, THE FAMILIES OF 9/11

CHAIRED BY: SENATOR SUSAN COLLINS (R-ME)

WITNESSES: MARY FETCHET, FOUNDING DIRECTOR, VOICES OF SEPTEMBER 11TH, MEMBER, FAMILY STEERING COMMITTEE; STEPHEN PUSH, CO-FOUNDER AND BOARD MEMBER, FAMILIES OF SEPTEMBER 11TH;

KRISTEN BREITWEISER, FOUNDER AND CO-CHAIRPERSON, SEPTEMBER 11TH ADVOCATES MEMBER, FAMILY STEERING COMMITTEE

LOCATION: 216 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING, WASHINGTON, D.C.

TIME: 9:00 A.M.

BODY:
SEN. BILL NELSON (D-FL): And I'll be returning this afternoon to our most recent version of Ground Zero, which is Punta Gorda, Florida, where I was over the weekend and of which we've had another disaster, but nothing of the magnitude that you all had suffered through and that's why I'm here. And, like Senator Mikulski, there were Floridians that were affected. I can name a few. Petty Officer 1st Class Johnnie Doctor from Jacksonville. He was in the Pentagon.

Stephen Philip Morris of Ormond Beach and he was in the World Trade Center. Timothy Grazioso from Gulf Stream, also in the World Trade Center and CeeCee Lyles (sp) from Fort Myers, not far from the hurricane entered the coast. She was a flight attendant on Flight 93 that ended up in Pennsylvania.

And I'm going back to the same hearing where I have been listening to the secretary of Defense and I will backstop Senator Clinton on some of those questions. But one thing I wanted to get some further commentary from you as a result of your comments with Senator Mikulski. Yesterday, in the Commerce Committee, when we had the chairman and vice-chairman of the 9/11 Commission and they were remarking ruefully that in a week, the commission evaporates because the funding runs out. And they were talking about how they are going out and doing all this private financing. Several of us were lamenting that fact. Thank goodness that you all pressed to get the 9/11 Commission and then you pressed to have them heard and now they're going to disappear, except for private funding.

So, it occurred to me-Madam Chair, I went up to Chairman John McCain and proffered the idea that since most of their staff is going to disappear after new week, at least the essential staff that they want to continue to assist the chairman and vice-chairman and other members with the private financing, one thing that we could do immediately is through some federal rule allow that staff to continue its federal benefits. Many of them are already federal employees and have been for the last year. And health insurance clearly is one incentive and if they have to go, maybe some of the best staff in order to protect their families need that protection and might not continue on. That's at least something that we could do.

So Chairman McCain seemed to be quite interested in that. We're working together. I offer it to you for yours and Senator Lieberman's suggestions.

SEN. COLLINS: The senator may be interested to know that Senator Lieberman and I have hired four of the commission staffers to work with us until we complete the legislation.

SEN. NELSON: Very good.

SEN. COLLINS: We were also working very closely with the Type Two staffers and we've actually brought on to our staff in nonpartisan positions four of the very senior staffers. So we're doing our part and they have been extremely helpful as we've been going forward.

SEN. NELSON: Will that staff be working for you?

SEN. COLLINS: Will be working for the committee.

SEN. NELSON: Well, I think that's illustrative that where there's a will, there's a way. Now I'm talking about so that the important staff can continue with Governor Kean and Congressman Hamilton to give them the support that they need as they are going to continue to press the case along with the families. And I'd like you to put on your thinking cap and see if we can't come up with solutions. And John McCain seems to be very willing to do this.

SEN. COLLINS: Thank you for that suggestion.

SEN. NELSON: I want to raise two other issues and it's more for us than for you all because, Madam Chair, one of the strongest suggestions to come out of the 9/11 Commission report is that we've got to get our house in order here with the congressional oversight. And a good example occurred yesterday in the Commerce Committee. The number two person at the Department of Homeland Security was there and was defending the review that has taken four months of whether or not butane lighters ought to be allowed on aircraft of which they are now. And this is right after Governor Kean had testified about the fellow Reid who got on the flight that was coming across the ocean and had he had a butane lighter, you know the flip thing, that instead of a series of matches, that he would have been able to successfully detonate that shoe bomb.

And yet we allow today butane lighters and we've been pressing the deputy secretary of homeland defense for seven months. And so the question was raised and it was raised in a bipartisan fashion. And so when it got my turn, I said, Mr. Secretary, you've heard Governor Kean say that one of the biggest things we've got to do is to have vigorous congressional oversight. You've heard the comments of this committee in a bipartisan fashion. Now listen to the congressional oversight and start paying attention and listen to the congressional direction. Get rid of the butane lighters. I said this in a friendly way but I also said it in a rather firm way. And I think it's beginning to get across.

It's like us sitting in the Armed Services Committee with Secretary Rumsfeld and others and I'm not saying this is a partisan way. But so often, we get the feeling like they don't care a whip about what our oversight is. You know the non-answers that we get. You know the non-answers that we get up there in S411 in the secure room. And so we've got to start asserting our constitutional role as a separate branch of government that is necessary for checks and balances for this government to function like it should. Otherwise you run into the problems that we see.

And the final thing that I would mention, something else that came out of Armed Services yesterday, was we paid a lot of attention to structure and analysis and collection and reorganization and so forth. But somewhere along the line, we have to start paying attention to how do personalities affect the analysis and the dissemination of information, intelligence information. Personalities. In other words, leadership. I don't have any magic bullet for this but I am sure raising the issue.

If we're going to get clear, unvarnished, timely and accurate intelligence, which is the only way for us to protect ourselves from the terrorists, then clearly that issue of personalities has got to be discussed and handled. So that's my comments to your hearings. And thank you for letting me sit in on all these hearings over the course of the last two or three weeks.