Intelligence Reform Bill Passes Over Objections of Some Republicans
By: Administrative Account | Source: CNSNews.com
December 8, 2004 6:09AM EST

By Susan Jones
CNSNews.com Morning Editor
December 08, 2004

(CNSNews.com) - The House of Representatives passed the National Intelligence Reform Act by a vote of 336-75 on Tuesday.

Republican leaders said they fulfilled their obligation to grieving 9/11 families, but some rank-and-file Republicans said they also did their duty -- by voting against a flawed piece of legislation.

House Speaker Dennis Hastert said he had a "simple message" for the 9/11 families who pressed so hard for passage of the intelligence overhaul bill: "We got the job done. The process worked," Hastert said.

Hastert said House passage of the compromise bill -- stalled for several weeks -- "will make America safer and the American people proud."

House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.), who also voted to pass the bill, said it will give the intelligence community the tools necessary to fight the war on terror and to better prevent future attacks.

"The 9/11 Commission report (issued in July) is a highly detailed, exhaustively thorough, 567-page report, and Congress has a responsibility to respond with equal gravity and vigor," DeLay said. "And now we have."

The National Intelligence Reform Act -- the law that sprang from the 9/11 commission's report -- reorganizes U.S. intelligence operations by creating a new Director of National Intelligence, establishing a counterterrorism center, and easing communication between different branches and agencies of the government.

At the insistence of House Armed Services Committee chairman Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.), the bill also protects soldiers in the field by preserving the existing military chain of command.

House Speaker Dennis Hastert said the bill is good, but not perfect, because it lacks important border security provisions.

"Unfortunately, because of the insistence of Senate Democrats, some of those provisions, especially provisions dealing with national standards for drivers' licenses and asylum procedures, had to be dropped [from the final bill]," Hastert said.

"But they will not be dropped for long," Hastert promised. "In fact, it is my intention to bring the drivers' license standards, the asylum procedures and other border security provisions back to the House floor for further consideration early in the next session."

Republicans who voted 'no'

Reps. Walter B. Jones of North Carolina, Joe Pitts of Pennsylvania, and Elton Gallegly of California were among the Republicans voting against the bill.

"This bill does little to accomplish its goal of reforming the intelligence system," Jones said in a press release explaining his opposition. "What good is it to reform intelligence when you aren't protecting the borders and the interior of the country? I do not understand how anyone can favor a bill that leaves so much unanswered."

Jones said he believes the bill passed on Tuesday will create loopholes through which terrorists can slip into the country.

He's particularly concerned that the bill does not include federal standards for drivers' licenses, a provision demanded by House Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner.

Jones noted that under the bill passed on Tuesday, all jurisdiction concerning drivers' licenses is transferred to the Department of Transportation -- and Homeland Security lacks any authority in that area.

Forty states, including North Carolina, currently have laws against issuing a driver's license to illegal aliens, but the intelligence bill would weaken a state's ability to enforce its laws because individuals who are denied a driver's license could legally challenge the clerk's denial, Jones said in a press release.

He noted that most states don't have the time or resources to defend thousands of lawsuits.

"It is absolutely ludicrous to think that someone who comes into this country illegally, possibly a terrorist, could then sue to obtain the right to a driver's license, a right that should only be afforded to those who follow proper immigration rules," Jones said.

Sensenbrenner said the language in the final bill "is worse than current law" because it "practically invites terrorists to come into our country and apply for these crucial identification documents (drivers' licenses)."

Rep. Elton Gallegly, chairman of the House International Terrorism, Nonproliferation and Human Rights subcommittee, also believes the bill passed on Tuesday falls short of what is needed to make America safer.

"The bill voted on today does not meet the goals outlined by the 9/11 Commission's comprehensive report," Gallegly said. He commended the 9/11 panel for the job it did. "Unfortunately, Congress has ignored the commission's warning that illegal immigration poses a substantial security risk for the United States."

Gallegly said he is particularly unhappy that the final bill dropped provisions that would deny asylum to terrorists.

Rep. Joe Pitts said he liked the original House bill, but not the compromise legislation that emerged from a House-Senate conference committee:

"The purpose of this bill was to enact the 9/11 Commission's most important recommendations," Pitts said. "The House version did just that, and I voted for it. This House-Senate compromise, however, leaves the job half done. I voted against it because I just don't feel it's right to leave a job this important unfinished.

"What's in the bill is good, but the bill is incomplete," Pitts said. "The Senate seems intent on ignoring some key points the Commission addressed -- the ability of terrorists to get into the country, obtain identification, and abuse asylum rules in order to stay here."

Pitts said Congress has a responsibility to finish the job it started, and he said it's important for the American people to pressure the Senate to address the important issues it ignored this time around.

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