Don't rush changes, say GOP leaders

By Sumana Chatterjee
Knight Ridder Newspapers

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Related stories "We are not safe," says 9/11 report

The report gives Congress and the executive branch a chance for "strong self-examination" and a road map for possible changes, said Senate Armed Services Chairman John Warner, R-Va. He added that he hopes the resulting action, however, is a "carefully thought-through, not rushed, deliberative process."

House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., said he will hold hearings this fall and ask committee chairmen to consider the proposals. Hastert dampened expectations of rapid legislation. "We are not going to rush through anything," he said.

The panel's major proposals would require congressional action to be implemented, but Republican leaders say they have few legislative days left before the fall elections in which to enact sweeping changes that would cut across political turfs of powerful committee chairmen.

Hastert's go-slow approach did not sit well with panel members, families of the terrorist-attack victims or other lawmakers who think changes are needed.

"The longer we delay, the more danger we are in," said the panel's chairman, former New Jersey Gov. Thomas Kean.

To make sure Congress acts, a bipartisan coalition of senators announced that they would be organizing an effort to enact the recommendations. The group includes Sens. Arlen Specter, R-Pa.; Evan Bayh, D-Ind.; Joe Lieberman, D-Conn.; and John McCain, R-Ariz.

McCain called on Congress to hold a lame-duck session after the elections to pass the needed reforms. McCain said Congress should begin scheduling hearings now to clear the way for possible action as early as next year. "The sooner we act on this commission's recommendations, the better off we are going to be," he said.

Legislation to establish an intelligence czar that mirrors one of the panel's key recommendations has had little support in Congress.

Plus, officials in the Defense Department oppose giving up control of their budgets and authority over intelligence, and they have friends on the House and Senate Armed Services committees, where the lawmakers are also turf conscious and reluctant to give up jurisdiction to the intelligence committees. Defense spends 80 percent of all intelligence funds.

Senate Democrats, meanwhile, urged Republican leaders to bring to the Senate floor legislation to fund homeland security and improve security at ports, railways, transit lines and chemical plants. But Republicans, who control the Senate calendar, have not moved on the measures.
 
Some lawmakers hope political pressure from the Sept. 11 report and the public will change the dynamics of enacting legislation.

Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said lawmakers need to fight institutional inertia. Implementing the reforms recommended by the panel "will be a real test of this place," he said.

If they aren't enacted, panel member James Thompson said, elected officials may feel the price at election time.

"If these reforms are not the best that can be done for the American people, then the Congress and the president need to tell us what's better," Thompson said.

"But if there is nothing better, they need to be enacted, and enacted speedily, because if something bad happens while these recommendations are sitting there, the American people will quickly fix political responsibility for failure, and that responsibility may last for generations."