Republicans in the House Block Floor Vote on 9-11 Commission Recommendations

During the last day of the lameduck session of Congress on Saturday, Republican members of the House of Representatives blocked a floor vote on legislation that would have enacted the major provisions of the 9-11 Commission Report, including the creation of a National Director of Intelligence who would have monetary control over all intelligence agencies. The move came largely as a result of close ties by these members to the Pentagon. The Pentagon currently controls 80% of intelligence funds, and most military leaders want to keep things status quo. The Republicans moved to block the vote in the House despite calls yesterday from both President Bush and Vice-President Cheney urging them to vote on the bill. (See the NYTimes for more.)

The Republicans who blocked this vote were re-elected in November, and apparently are 'feeling their oats' if they are willing to block legislation that has been requested, even demanded, by the American people. The citizens of this country want to see action taken and want to see changes made to an apparently inept organizational structure that allows inter-agency competition rather than demanding cooperation. The people of the United States deserve better from their elected representatives, and it would be in the best interest of the public to have detailed information about who is responsible for blocking this vote in the House. The move to block the vote has killed the legislation until the next session of Congress, and will put off an intelligence realignment at least until the middle of next year.

Could it be that the Republican leadership is largely to blame for this move? Speaker Dennis Hastert has been a some-time critic of the 9-11 Commission Report, and has said in the past that a realignment of the intelligence agencies is unnecessary, and that moving monetary control away from the Pentagon could mean that troops on the ground would not have the immediate intelligence they might need to fight the enemy. The only place this argument comes from is the Pentagon, as other experts and agencies argue that the resources are in place and this move would not disrupt any intelligence operations. Hastert has decided to keep Congress in session through the Christmas recess in the event that committee members want to continue work on the bill, and in the event that the legislation could come up for a vote--we all know this is nothing more than a tool of appeasement.

Isn't it strange that many people voted for Bush (and one would assume for other Republicans) because of their apparent support for the War on Terrorists; and yet, many of these very same Republicans are standing in the way of significant change that could help to prevent another attack on this country. Republicans--tough on terrorists, or tough on average America?