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Byrd rockefeller sharply divided over reform Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.herald-dispatch.com/2004/December/09/LNtop1.htmhttp://www.herald-dispatch.com/2004/December/09/LNtop1.htm
NEWS |Thursday, Dec. 9, 2004
Intelligence bill signed
Byrd, Rockefeller sharply divided over reform
By RAJU CHEBIUM - Gannett News Service
WASHINGTON -- To Sen. Jay Rockefeller, the intelligence-reform bill that Congress has approved is a "monumental achievement" capping 50 years of legislative efforts to overhaul the way the nation gets and uses the sensitive information.
To Sen. Robert C. Byrd, the Senate abdicated its time-honored tradition of thoroughly scrutinizing all of a bill’s details before acting on it.
A sharp divide emerged between West Virginia’s senators -- who usually agree on policy matters -- over the bill that sailed through the Senate on Wednesday 89-2.
Byrd said he expected to be the only no vote. Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., cast the other no vote.
The House approved the bill Tuesday. It is next headed to the White House for President Bush to sign into law.
As the senior Democrat on the Senate intelligence committee, Rockefeller was one of the measure’s strongest supporters even though it didn’t contain all the provisions he wanted.
"We are poised to achieve what people thought was impossible," he said on the Senate floor Wednesday before the vote.
In an indirect reference to Byrd, Rockefeller said, "Some have criticized this legislation as hastily conceived or rushed to completion. It’s to the contrary. This reform has been 50 years in the making and the issues have been the subject to 46 different commissions and reports -- and most have suggested the same kinds of things we are doing here."
Byrd, the senior Democrat on the appropriations committee, said senators didn’t have enough time to closely review the measure. They received copies of the final legislation Tuesday.
"It’s outrageous to expect senators to read and understand a 615-page measure in less than 24 hours. Is that the way we ought to legislate?" he said.
"We are duty-bound to explore the opinions on all sides of an issue, especially an issue that is so serious as is this one. We are duty-bound to work toward a process that does not exclude opponents or silence the opposition," said Byrd, the longest-serving member of Congress currently in office.
He had advocated waiting until next year to vote on the bill.
The House overwhelmingly passed the measure, billed as a critical step toward making the nation and U.S. installations abroad safer from future acts of terrorism. The vote was 336-75. Rep. Nick Rahall, the Beckley Democrat whose district includes the Huntington region, didn’t vote.
The bill incorporates the recommendations of the bipartisan commission that investigated the events leading up to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Among other things, it would streamline intelligence gathering and give expanded powers and budget authority to one director, replacing a patchwork of responsibilities presently undertaken by myriad agencies.
The House and the Senate passed intelligence-reform legislation earlier this year, and a select group of lawmakers called the conference committee worked out a compromise between the two versions.
The compromise was then reworked to address the objections of two lawmakers. It was this compromise measure that passed both chambers this week.
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