Speaker Pelosi--We are making the American People Safer

www.speaker.gov

Two and a half years ago, the independent and bipartisan 9/11 Commission provided an invaluable service to our nation , making 41 recommendations to make Americans safer.

Although Congress dealt with reform of the intelligence community in 2004, unfortunately, the 9/11 Commission remaining recommendations have largely not been implemented effectively. As a result, the 9/11 Commission has given the Bush Administration and the Congress failing grades on implementation.

Today ,as the first bill of the first 100 hours that Democrats control Congress,we have passed the first comprehensive response to the non-intelligence reform recommendations of the 9/11 Commission.As protecting the American people should always be the first priority of both parties, I am pleased that this was done in a bipartisan way. Six Republican votes---


9/11 Commission Vice Chair Lee Hamilton said yesterday that if this bill ,H.R. 1, is enacted ,funded and implemented , then the American people will be safer. Today,we are making the American people safer by passing this bill.

At the urging of the 9/11 Commission, the House amended its rules to change the way the intelligence budget is reviewed, to combine the perspectives of authorizers and appropriators. The creation of a select intelligence oversight panel on the Appropriations Committee is unprecedented in the history of the House. In Addition to implementing the 9/11 Commission by requiring that within five years, 100 percent of the shipping containers bound for the United States are screened at their port of origin.

In the fall campaign, Democrats promised to address the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission, making it an urgent priority in the new Congress. Today, we have made good on that pledge.

May her tribe increase!*

*More little Pelosi's to raise hell and advance women in politics!