Stakeout Media Availability
Federal News Service
HEADLINE: STAKEOUT MEDIA AVAILABILITY WITH SENATOR BILL FRIST (R-TN), SENATE MAJORITY LEADER; AND SENATOR SUSAN COLLINS (R-ME) LOCATION: THE CAPITOL, THE OHIO CLOCK CORRIDOR, WASHINGTON, D.C.
BODY:
SEN. FRIST: This is where the action is; it's not over there.
SEN. COLLINS: (Laughs.)
SEN. FRIST: This is where the action is.
SEN. COLLINS: The smartest reporters are over --
SEN. FRIST: Yeah, that's right. That's right.
SEN. COLLINS: (Off mike.) (Laughs.)
SEN. FRIST: Three and a half weeks ago we set out this period between recesses with the objective to focus on the safety and security of the American people. We came right into the post-recess, post-convention period with Homeland Security. We stayed on the bill. We worked it in a bipartisan way and completed that bill. And that was goal number one.
But number two was to address the Goss nomination. And in a very, very orderly fashion, we addressed that nomination, and indeed he was confirmed.
Thirdly, we said we'd continue with the appropriations process, which is our obligation, our responsibility, and we've passed five of the 13 appropriation bills. And we will be working towards passing the remainder of those in the very near future.
Fourthly, we said we were going to give significant tax relief to the American people. And again, in a bipartisan way, we delivered a fourth major tax relief package to take the burden off hardworking men and women and families across America.
The fifth component and ultimately probably the most important in terms of reform is the bill that's on the floor of the United States Senate. Senator Susan Collins and Senator Joe Lieberman have done a superb job, beginning work on this bill in early August, and have gone nonstop. Indeed, they started long before that. But in terms of the response to the 9/11 commission, as soon as that report came out, we in the United States Senate have aggressively addressed that report through hearings, through a fantastic markup, where a range of amendments were considered, and a product that was brought to the floor of the United States Senate yesterday. This is the most significant reform of intelligence in the last 50 years in this country. It is being addressed in a very serious fashion. And indeed the bill we will complete before we leave. I'd like to be able to finish the bill this week. The bill was just introduced yesterday, and we'll see how quickly we can actually do that.
The president of the United States spoke with strong support in a statement of administration policy that was released in the last hour, and I'll read just one sentence, and then I'll turn to the manager for the bill for comment.
A statement of administration policy. This is, of course, from the administration, by the president of the United States. The first sentence-I'll just read that. "The administration supports Senate passage of S. 2845; commends the committee for its expeditious attention to these important intelligence reform issues; appreciates the committee's efforts to include important provisions proposed by the administration, including specific and detailed budget authorities for the national intelligence director; and looks forward to working with the Congress to address the administration's concerns, outlined below."
The Senate leadership on both sides of the aisle supports this legislation. The president of the United States and the administration support this legislation. And indeed that is why, with a lot of hard work, I'm confident that we will pass this bill here in the next several days before we leave.
Senator Collins.
SEN. COLLINS: Thank you.
I'm very pleased with the president's specific endorsement of the Collins-Lieberman bill. That will give us momentum as we start working through the amendments that will be offered to this legislation. The administration's position does two things.
First, it makes clear that the president opposes any attempt to weaken the full budget authority that our legislation provides to the new national intelligence director.
Second, the statement of administration policy makes clear that the president wants this bill on his desk as soon as possible. That will help us counter those who have advocated waiting until next year.
I am so opposed to delay in considering this bill. At a time when our nation is under increased threat of a terrorist attack, it would be irresponsible for Congress to adjourn for the year without enacting this important legislation.
I also want to comment just briefly on a press conference that Joe Lieberman and I held with the 9/11 Commission members, two of the members and a representative of the family groups this morning. What was significant about that press conference is that two prominent House members joined in our efforts. We have been working very closely with Congressman Pete Hoekstra, who's the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, and Congresswoman Jane Harman, who's the ranking Democrat. We're working with them behind the scenes as well as at the press conference today. I think that also bodes well for enactment of this bill. We're making great progress in both the Senate and the House.
Thank you.
SEN. FRIST: Be happy to take question. I know Senator Collins needs to go back to the floor. We'll be voting shortly. But questions on the bill.
Q (Off mike) -- a close reading of the statement of administration policy --
SEN. FRIST: Pardon me?
Q After doing a close reading, it looks like they are opposed to some of the critical issues that you present in your bill. By declassifying the bill, you give the NID much more authority than keeping it classified, as it is in the House version and as in the administration one. What is your opinion of the devil being in the details to whether or not it's going to hurt the overall strength of the NID here?
SEN. COLLINS: The administration made very clear that they support passage of the bill. They obviously have some concerns about specific language, but that does not cause them in any way to withhold support of the bill.
As the bill goes through the process, we'll continue to work with the administration to address some of the concerns. Most of the issues-in fact, all of the issues mentioned where the administration has concerns, with the exception of the declassification of the top line, are really minor issues. It has to do with whether you should specify in law some of the positions created by the bill, the amount of detail in the information-sharing provisions. Those are issues that are-are not fundamental issues.
On the fundamental issues the administration is in accord with our bill, and I think that is very helpful. It's also extremely helpful that the administration took such a strong position against weakening amendments. That will certainly help as this debate continues.
Q Senator Collins, Senator Stevens said earlier that he sees this -- (inaudible) -- as saying essentially that he should go forward with some of his amendments to protect the Defense Department from what he sees as overstepping of the NID. Is that your read of this as well?
SEN. COLLINS: No. It clearly says that the administration will oppose any amendments that would weaken the full budget authority or other authorities. I think that's a pretty clear statement.
The one area of disagreement with the administration does have to do with the declassification of the aggregate budget amount. Now on that issue, we again took a middle position. The 9/11 commission proposed that we declassify the subtotals, the agency totals for the appropriations. We did not take that approach. We are only declassifying the top line, the aggregate of the entire intelligence budget. So I think we've struck the right balance on that. We don't go as far as the 9/11 commission. We go further than the White House would like on that one issue.FRIST-COLLINS STAKEOUT PAGE 7 09/28/2002 .STX
SEN. FRIST: Any other questions?
Q Senator, how do you see --
Q Senator, on this issue of intelligence --
SEN. FRIST: Okay.
SEN. COLLINS: I'm going to go to the floor.
SEN. FRIST: Good, good, good.
SEN. COLLINS: Thank you.
SEN. FRIST: Thanks.