Senator Byrd on the Intelligence Reform Bill

Excerpted from his website:

When the elected representatives of the people allow themselves to be coerced into a process that encourages the abdication of our responsibility to understand and thoroughly review legislation, the people are robbed of their voice in their government.

Senators take an oath to defend the Constitution, and common sense suggests that that means reading and studying the legislation before the Congress.  We are duty bound to explore the opinions on all sides of an issue, and to work toward a process that does not exclude opponents or silence the opposition.

In its heyday, the Senate was known as the greatest deliberative body in the world.  What we have seen in recent times, however, is a hollow shell of that noble tradition.  Time after time, the Senate forgoes its responsibility to deliberate and carefully review legislation, and even defers to others to craft legislation for it.

Legislation is passed by the Senate, and then, too often, hastily rewritten in a conference committee behind closed doors marked, "no minority view admitted."  All too often during the 108th Congress, the party leadership has held bills until just before a recess, and then employed disingenuous rhetoric about last opportunities to get something done.  Senators preoccupied with holiday schedules and travel plans, for example, timidly roll over and accept whatever is placed in front of them.  They do it time and time again.

I anguish about the eroding character of the Senate, and the message it sends to the American people, when this body allows itself to be stampeded into passing legislation without thorough examination.  We congratulate ourselves on a job well done, and vote overwhelmingly in support of legislation, and yet we cannot even be bothered to ask questions about the changes made in conference.  Like pygmies on the battlefield of history, we cower like whipped dogs in the face of political pressure when it comes to issues like intelligence reform. 

I do not claim to know as much about this legislation as the managers of the bill, but I do know about process, and it galls me that the Senate has allowed itself to be jammed against a time deadline in considering this conference report.

This is the most far reaching reorganization of our intelligence agencies since 1947.  These changes will remain for decades, and they will impact the security of our nation at countless levels.  Such matters ought to be held to a higher standard of consideration by the Congress than is the case here.  

This conference report has been reworked and redrafted over the course of two months in a closed door conference, and the Senate has only received a printed copy of the conference agreement less than 24 hours ago.  As late as yesterday, the conferees were making changes.  It is outrageous to expect Senators to read and understand a 600-page bill in less than 24 hours.

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I say again, let us not believe that we understand what has been included in this conference report.  It is, in effect, a new bill that is very different from anything the Senate has considered to date.  Common sense suggests that the Congress ought to hold hearings on the contents of this new bill, so that we may be informed by experts about its benefits and defects. 

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What the American people will remember is that the Congress abdicated its role to protect their security interests.  The American people will remember that the Congress empowered an unelected bureaucrat while doing little else to protect against future intelligence failures.

This process has been hurried and rushed from the beginning, and it has been tainted ever since the decision was made to tie its consideration to a political schedule.