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Senate takes up 9/11 reform bill today
WASHINGTON - The Senate is expected to pass the 9/11 intelligence reform bill
late this afternoon after the House passed the legislation 336-75 last night.
The Sept. 11 commission, in its July report, said disharmony among the nation's 15 intelligence agencies contributed to the inability of government officials to stop the 2001 attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people in New York City, Washington and Pennsylvania. The new structure should help the agencies work together to prevent such disasters in the future, lawmakers said. "This legislation is going to make a real difference to the security of our country," said Senate Governmental Affairs Committee chairwoman Susan Collins. "It is going to improve the quality of intelligence provided to our military and it will help to keep civilians safer here at home." Senators said Tuesday they were confident the bill would pass. But because Congress had to hold a special session to get a final agreement, Wednesday's vote was expected to be extended to late in the day to accommodate senators rushing back to the Capitol from across the nation. Heavy and persistent lobbying by the bipartisan Sept. 11 commission and families of attack victims kept the legislation alive through the summer political conventions, the Nov. 2 elections and a postelection lame duck session of Congress. Families of several Sept. 11 victims held hands and wept as the House passed the legislation. Bill Harvey, a New Yorker whose wife, Sara Manley, was killed at the World Trade Center a month after the couple wed, said the victory was also a sad reminder. "The vote took 15 minutes, and it was pretty emotional. I thought about her during the 15 minutes of the vote," he said. House GOP leaders held up action on the bill for two weeks because Armed Services Committee Chairman Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., was concerned that the new intelligence director might be inserted into the chain of command between the president and military commanders in the field. Hunter and the bill's negotiators came to an agreement Monday on language clarifying the president's control. Some Republicans, however, still weren't satisfied. House Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner, was upset because the bill wouldn't prohibit states from giving driver's licenses to illegal immigrants or change asylum laws to make it more difficult for terrorists to get into the country. Other Republicans said they opposed the entire overhaul bill because they saw it as useless. "I believe creating a national intelligence director is a huge mistake," said
Rep. Ray LaHood. "It's another bureaucracy, it's another layer of government. It
would not have prevented 9/11 and it will not prevent another 9/11."
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