Providing For Consideration of H.R. 10, 9/11 Recommendations Implementation Act

PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF H.R. 10, 9/11 RECOMMENDATIONS IMPLEMENTATION ACT -- (House of Representatives - October 07, 2004)

Mr. LINDER. Mr. Speaker, by direction of the Committee on Rules, I call up House Resolution 827 and ask for its immediate consideration.

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Mr. LINDER. Mr. Speaker, for the purpose of debate only, I yield the customary 30 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Frost), pending which I yield myself such time as I may consume. During consideration of this resolution, all time yielded is for the purpose of debate only.

Mr. Speaker, this is a fair and structured rule providing for consideration of H.R. 10, the 9/11 Recommendations Implementation Act. H. Res. 827 makes in order 23 amendments, including an amendment in the nature of a substitute offered by the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Menendez).

The rule before the House today will provide for a thorough debate on this Nation's vision for the reform and improvement of our intelligence operations. Specifically, this rule provides for 3 hours and 40 minutes of general debate allocated between the chairman and ranking minority members of eight separate committees.

H. Res. 827 waives all points of order against consideration of the bill and provides that the amendment in the nature of a substitute consisting of the text of the Committee on Rules print dated October 4, 2004 be considered as an original bill for the purpose of amendment and shall be considered as read. The rule waives all points of order against the amendment in the nature of a substitute consisting of the text of the Committee on Rules print.

H. Res. 827 makes in order only those further amendments which are printed in the Committee on Rules report accompanying the resolution.

The rule provides that amendments made in order may be offered only in the order printed in the report, may be offered only by a Member designated in the report, shall be considered as read, shall be debatable for the time specified in the report equally divided and controlled by the proponent and an opponent, shall not be subject to amendment, and shall not be subject to a demand for division of the question in the House or in the Committee of the Whole.

H. Res. 827 waives all points of order against the amendments printed in the report and provides one motion to recommit with or without instructions.

In addition, this rule provides that upon passage of H.R. 10, the Senate transmittal of S. 2845, the House shall be considered to have taken from the Speaker's table S. 2845, stricken all after the enacting clause of such bill and inserted the provisions of H.R. 10 as passed by the House.

Finally, the rule provides that House shall be considered to have passed the Senate bill as so amended, and insisted on its amendment and requested a conference with the Senate. The Speaker may appoint conferees on S. 2845 and the House amendment at any time. This provision provides for the expeditious movement of the bill upon passage to the next stage of the legislative process, which is a House-Senate conference.

The rule also provides that the motion to instruct conferees shall be in order only at a time designated by the Speaker and the legislative schedule within 2 additional legislative days after the passage of H.R. 10. This provision is intended to protect and ensure the minority's right to offer a motion to instruct conferees.

Mr. Speaker, 3 years have passed since that beautiful September day was shattered by terrorists who despise the thought of a Nation that allows its people the freedom to live and worship as they choose. I agree with President Bush that "the terrorists are offended not merely by our policies, they are offended by our existence as free nations."

Since that day, our Nation has fought this war on multiple fronts: diplomatic, financial, investigative, homeland security, humanitarian, and militarily. We have also committed to improving our intelligence operations. After the House and Senate passed the Intelligence Authorization bill last Congress, the President signed the bill into law, establishing the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks on the United States. Its goal was to prepare a complete account of the events surrounding the September 11 attacks. Recently, the Commission submitted recommendations to Congress citing the need for reforms of our intelligence and homeland security systems.

I am pleased that this bipartisan group was able to come through to a thorough conclusion on what went wrong prior to September 11 and what must be done to ensure that those heinous acts never occur again.

Proactive steps have already been taken during the month of August when Congress traditionally recesses to conduct work in our respective districts across the country, Members were called back to participate in no less than 20 committee hearings on the Commission's report. I joined my colleagues in a hearing of the House Select Committee on Homeland Security where we were able to listen to the testimony of Commission Chairman Tom Kean and Vice Chairman Lee Hamilton.

President Bush has outlined a strategy for sweeping reform of our security and intelligence operations in his continuing efforts to keep our Nation safe from those who wish to do harm to our citizens. Today, the House continues its efforts to move forward to make the substantive changes that will inevitably help better protect the citizens of this country. The House is committed to doing everything in its power to enact a plan that reflects the full scope of the Commission's intelligence and homeland security recommendations.

This wide-ranging bill reforms and integrates our intelligence capacity by establishing a National Intelligence Director to serve as the head of the intelligence community, a National Intelligence Council, and an Intelligence Community Information Technology Officer to assist in implementation of an integrated information technology network.

The bill focuses on effective information-sharing, because we know that prior to September 11, the sharing of intelligence in the Federal Government was inadequate. This bill ensures the sharing of and access to information within our intelligence community with a particular emphasis placed on detection, prevention, and the disruption of potential terrorist attacks.

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 10 focuses on terrorist prevention by authorizing Federal officials to target "lone wolf" terrorists, targeting money laundering and terrorist financing, and enhancing airline security through improved passenger pre-screening, and training all Federal law enforcement officers with in-flight counterterrorism procedures.

This bill effectively restructures the government by strengthening the Federal Bureau of Investigation through recruitment and retention, streamlining our Nation's current security clearance procedures by eliminating duplicative processes and, finally, improving efficiency by expediting the processes that direct resources to first responders where they are most needed.

In addition, in response to the Commission's detailed report on problems such as border security, information-sharing, and immigration enforcement, this comprehensive bill tackles these challenging issues and enhances the reforms that have been put in place since September 11.

Mr. Speaker, this is a fair and balanced rule for a bill that is critical to improving our current security and intelligence operations. I urge support for the rule and for the underlying measure.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

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Mr. LINDER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. LaHood).

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Mr. LINDER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Green).

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Mr. LINDER. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
speaker is not here on the floor at this moment. I think he will be here shortly. I would ask, does the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Linder) have any other speakers?

Mr. LINDER. Mr. Speaker, I am prepared to close.

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Mr. LINDER. Mr. Speaker, I yield back balance of my time, and I move the previous question on the resolution.

The previous question was ordered.

The resolution was agreed to.

A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.