Lawmakers to delay action on 9/11 report

Congress will begin acting on some of the recommendations in the September 11 commission’s report when lawmakers return from summer recess, but leaders said the dramatic changes sought in yesterday’s report will be put off until after the Nov. 2 elections.

“We will move the Faster and Smarter Funding for First Responders Act to the floor soon to ensure that our areas under the highest risk of threats are taken care of,” said Rep. Christopher Cox, California Republican and chairman of the House Select Committee on Homeland Security Committee.

Republican Sens. John McCain of Arizona and Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania and Democratic Sens. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut and Evan Bayh of Indiana suggested a special session to move more of the recommendations forward.

“Delay is our enemy, and time is important. And that’s why I think it’s so important that, what Joe and Arlen and Evan say, that if necessary, let’s do a special session,” Mr. McCain said.

The commission was highly critical of Congress’ treating homeland-security funding as a “general revenue” program for police and fire departments all over the country, preferring instead an approach focused on threat hierarchy with New York and the District at the top of the list.

The reactions from members of Congress made it clear that the September 11 report and recommendations will quickly become an issue in the presidential and congressional campaigns, especially with regard to homeland security.

“I think it will be and it should be,” said Sen. Charles E. Schumer, New York Democrat. “This report is a broad, severe indictment on what we are doing on homeland security… we are not doing enough, focusing on air security and neglecting security for our seaports, rails, chemical and nuclear plants.”

Sen. Barbara Boxer, California Democrat, yesterday panned votes on homosexual “marriage” and controversial judges, saying Majority Leader Bill Frist, Tennessee Republican, is ignoring homeland-security appropriations bills.

Republican senators, while denouncing partisan attacks, touted the work the Republican-led Congress and the Bush administration have done, citing the Patriot Act, improvements in airport security, identification methods and communication between the FBI and CIA, in advance of the report.

“It is important to remember, three years after the horrific attacks, that this president and this Congress haven’t been sitting around waiting for a commission’s report before taking action,” said Sen. John Cornyn, Texas Republican.

The restructuring of the intelligence community, and its congressional oversight, will likely be a turf-war issue in coming months.

House Democrats on the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence began pushing their bill introduced in April to create a Cabinet-level director of national intelligence position and an office encompassing every intelligence agency, military and civilian.

“I strongly support the commission’s recommendation to strengthen our intelligence capabilities by integrating all intelligence functions under a single national intelligence director separate from the head of the CIA,” said Rep. Jane Harman, California Democrat, and ranking member on the committee.

Committee Chairman Rep. Porter J. Goss, Florida Republican and a former CIA agent, said a plan of such magnitude cannot be rushed or politicized. He said the committee will deal with the matter in the fall as planned.

“I have said what our schedule will be all along and we are trying now to broaden the interest of all parties in the House, Senate, administration, military and intelligence,” Mr. Goss said. “We are nearing the end of our intake, but there are all kinds of recommendations on this issue.”

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