Congressional Record: June 26, 2002 (House)
Page H3934-H3936
PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF H.R. 4598, HOMELAND SECURITY INFORMATION
SHARING ACT
Mr. GOSS. Mr. Speaker, by direction of the Committee on Rules, I call
up House Resolution 458 and ask for its immediate consideration.
The Clerk read the resolution, as follows:
H. Res. 458
Resolved, That at any time after the adoption of this
resolution the Speaker may, pursuant to clause 2(b) of rule
XVIII, declare the House resolved into the Committee of the
Whole House on the state of the Union for consideration of
the bill (H.R. 4598) to provide for the sharing of homeland
security information by Federal intelligence and law
enforcement agencies with State and local entities. The first
reading of the bill shall be dispensed with. All points of
order against consideration of the bill are waived. General
debate shall be confined to the bill and shall not exceed one
hour, with 40 minutes equally divided and controlled by the
chairman and ranking minority member of the Permanent Select
Committee on Intelligence and 20 minutes equally divided and
controlled by the chairman and ranking minority member of the
Committee on the Judiciary. It shall be in order to consider
as an original bill for the purpose of amendment under the
five-minute rule the amendment in the nature of a substitute
recommended by the Committee on the Judiciary now printed in
the bill. Each section of the committee amendment in the
nature of a substitute shall be considered as read. All
points of order against the committee amendment in the nature
of a substitute are waived. During consideration of the bill
for amendment, the Chairman of the Committee of the Whole may
accord priority in recognition on the basis of whether
[[Page H3935]]
the Member offering an amendment has caused it to be printed
in the portion of the Congressional Record designated for
that purpose in clause 8 of rule XVIII. Amendments so printed
shall be considered as read. At the conclusion of
consideration of the bill for amendment the Committee shall
rise and report the bill to the House with such amendments as
may have been adopted. Any Member may demand a separate vote
in the House on any amendment adopted in the Committee of the
Whole to the bill or to the committee amendment in the nature
of a substitute. The previous question shall be considered as
ordered on the bill and amendments thereto to final passage
without intervening motion except one motion to recommit with
or without instructions.
{time} 1030
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Ryan of Wisconsin). The gentleman from
Florida (Mr. Goss) is recognized for 1 hour.
Mr. GOSS. Mr. Speaker, for purposes of debate only, I yield the
customary 30 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from Georgia, or
from Florida (Mr. Hastings), my colleague and friend, pending which I
yield myself such time as I may consume. During consideration of this
resolution, all time is for purposes of debate only.
Mr. Speaker, the legislation before us is an open rule providing for
the consideration of H.R. 4598, the Homeland Security Information
Sharing Act. This is a fair rule that will allow thoughtful discussion
on a topic that has become crucial to our national security.
I do not think there is anything controversial in any way about any
of the elements of the rule, which were so well read by the Clerk, and
I do not think there is any point in repeating all of that.
Mr. Speaker, this is a good open rule on an important subject.
Dealing with information sharing is critical to our ability to prevent
bad things from happening in homeland America. That is the challenge
that is before us today.
I have to congratulate the chairman and the ranking member of the
Subcommittee on Terrorism and Homeland Security of my Permanent Select
Committee on Intelligence, the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Chambliss)
and the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Harman), for their work on
this timely piece of legislation.
Mr. Speaker, this bill starts us down a road that we must travel to
make sure all our forces are cooperatively engaged for national
security. H.R. 4598 would promote the sharing of critical homeland
security threat information between Federal law enforcement and
intelligence agencies with State and local officials in place to
protect and defend the American public.
Can Members imagine how much safer our country can be if local first
responders like police officers and sheriffs have Federal information
at their fingertips that enables them to pinpoint and thwart evildoers
before tragedies occur?
Mr. Speaker, this bill may not provide a crystal ball that forewarns
us of every and all bad things looming in the future, but it gives us a
tool for transmitting known facts and information about terrorist
activity to capable, authorized people who are in position to act on
the front lines across America.
The tragic events of September 11 have caused us to reevaluate how we
go about protecting our Nation and our people. We are dealing with a
visionary new homeland security structure, we are dealing with
necessary reform at the FBI, we are dealing with 9-11 reviews, we are
dealing with reform of the intelligence community, and some inevitable
changes in our intelligence community capabilities and management.
So we have a great many things on our plate. But, in the meantime,
there is no reason why we should not, and every reason why we should,
support a good rule and a good piece of legislation that will help us
get some interim activity that will heighten safety for every man,
woman, and child in the country. That is something that we all want.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. HASTINGS of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I
may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I thank my good friend, the gentleman from the east
coast, I mean west coast, of Florida, the distinguished chairman of the
Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, for yielding time to me.
Since he almost put me in Georgia, I decided to put him on the east
coast of Florida.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this rule and in support of the
underlying bill, the Homeland Security Information Sharing Act. I am
proud to have worked with the Subcommittee on Terrorism and Homeland
Security chairpersons, the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Chambliss) and
the ranking member, the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Harman), on
this bill; and I am proud to be an original cosponsor of this important
legislation.
Mr. Speaker, H.R. 4598 requires Federal intelligence agencies to
share relevant homeland security information with designated local
police and emergency first response personnel. Furthermore, this bill
instructs the Director of Central Intelligence and the Attorney General
to draft guidelines for the dissemination of this information.
All such information and the systems used to disseminate it are to be
open to Federal intelligence, Federal law enforcement, and
congressional review.
Mr. Speaker, this legislation is timely indeed. At a moment when
State and local law enforcement and emergency response personnel are
being forced to prepare for unprecedented threats to the safety and
security of their communities, they cannot be left in the dark. Local
first responders must have access to timely and detailed information
about any terrorist threats in order to adequately serve their
communities.
A footnote right here, and a compliment to the distinguished
chairperson of the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and, in
the other body, the Senator from Florida who chairs the concomitant
committee in the Senate, for having sponsored a program in Orlando that
I was fortunate enough to attend with both of them that deals
specifically in part, or dealt with, in part, the facts having to do
with first responders and local communities.
I think to the extent that Florida will become a bellwether State,
the beacon light was shed by the information that was provided at that
conference due to the two chairs of the intelligence community. I, for
one, as a Floridian and as a Member of this body, am grateful and
indebted to them.
Mr. Speaker, while some may be concerned that this legislation
greatly widens the pool of people with access to intelligence
information, let me note that this bill provides very adequate
safeguards to protect the rights of individuals and groups.
For example, the bill protects the constitutional and statutory
rights of individuals by requiring that any information that is shared
must not be used for any unauthorized purpose. Similarly, the
information sharing procedures mandated by the bill must ensure the
security and confidentiality of information as well as redact or delete
obsolete or erroneous information.
Last, this legislation, like the PATRIOT Act before it, brings with
it new modes of intelligence sharing and new congressional oversight
responsibilities. Just as we are compelled to increase our
intelligence-sharing capacity in the wake of the tragedy of September
11, so, too, are we compelled to ensure that these new government
powers do not erode our precious civil rights and civil liberties.
Again, for all of the reasons I have just outlined, I support this
bill and I support this fair, open rule which allows its consideration
today.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. GOSS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I am from the west coast of Florida. We will get this
right. Florida is south of Georgia. The gentleman from the east coast
of Florida just made an eloquent speech for which I am most grateful,
and I appreciate the kind remarks. I will return them from the west
coast of Florida to the east coast of Florida.
It was always a privilege to have the gentleman on our Permanent
Select Committee on Intelligence. We look forward to his return. We
enjoy working with him on the Committee on Rules, in the meantime. It
is a different kind of work than the Permanent Select Committee on
Intelligence.
Mr. HASTINGS of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the
distinguished gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson-Lee).
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Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the distinguished
gentleman from Florida and the distinguished gentleman from Georgia. I
want to thank them. I will soon be reprimanded on the floor. I am using
my time. Let me thank the two distinguished gentlemen from Florida for
their leadership on this issue.
Mr. Speaker, let me applaud the proponents of this legislation,
particularly in the testimony they gave before the Committee on the
Judiciary, of which I am a member. I want to add my support to the rule
and am gratified that it is an open rule.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to share with my colleagues that I think
one of the more important points that we can make as we move toward
making this country a safer place to live, and recognizing that we have
turned the page of history on September 11, is the ability to share
viable and important information with our local responders, if you
will, or the local leaders that will provide the home-based security.
With that in mind, I intend to offer an amendment, a friendly
amendment, that I hope my colleagues will consider favorably, and that
is to ensure procedures that will allow the information from government
whistle-blowers to be able to be shared within the confines of the
regulations that may be designed by the President of the United States
of America.
Mr. Speaker, I hope in this context we will recognize that
information may come from a variety of sources, and we would hope the
President would then design for us the best way that that information
should be shared. The idea is to make sure that our Nation is safe, to
do it with cooperative and collaborative efforts, but also to protect
the integrity of the information we need to secure those in the
homeland.
This amendment, as I said, is offered in a friendly context to
recognize the importance of information that comes from those who would
be willing to provide us the truth. I think as we move forward we have
all determined that the key element for safety involves finding out the
facts and the truth.
Mr. HASTINGS of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my
time.
Mr. GOSS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the remarks of my colleague, the gentleman
from the east coast of Florida (Mr. Hastings). Actually, we do note
there is an east and west, we are one State together, and proud to know
each other.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time, and I move the
previous question on the resolution.
The previous question was ordered.
The resolution was agreed to.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
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