Monday, March 5, 2007: Return to Consideration of 9/11 Commission Recommendations Bill; Iran Bill Draws Inappropriate Applause from Gallery

[19:20]
Reid is wrapping up today's business.  There are 31 pending amendments.  There are a few humps to get over.  He will move to table the DeMint amendment (collective bargaining for TSA employees).  Immigration amendments are out there but he wants to see them handled as one big bill not piecemeal.  The Senate will come in tomorrow at 10:00 am; then an hour of morning business; then a vote on the motion to table the DeMint amendment.  Then work on 9/11 Commission Recommendations bill all day Wednesday.  The Senate has gaveled out.


[17:31]
Jim DeMint, SC.  Senator DeMint is speaking in opposition to the McCaskill Amendment regarding organization of TSA employees.  He says that allowing TSA employees to organize would mean that security decisions could be held up by union efforts.  In other words, the amendment would "force TSA to bargain with unions" with respect to security decisions, something DeMint sees as potentially damaging to national security. He says that this amendment does nothing to implement the 9/11 Commission's Recommendations and might in fact make it more likely that we have another September 11th.  Further, President Bush is likely to veto the bill if it contains a provision allowing TSA employees to organize.  A vote for the amendment is a political vote for labor unions, not a vote for security.

[17:03]
Bob Menendez, NJ.  Menendez also supports the Feinstein/Cornyn Amdt. to ensure that HS funding is allocated to states based on risk assessments.  This is a recommendation of the 9/11 Commission, he says, and to this day it has been ignored.  We need to dole out funds based strictly on an assessment of risks and vulnerabilities.


[16:55]
Bob Casey, PA.  He says that although this bill is perfect in just about every way, it still gets the funding allocation wrong.  Casey wants to see funds allocated based on risk, not a formula dishing out to each state an equal share.  This share is something like .75% as a minimum starting point for every state.  He is co-sponsoring the Cornyn/Feinstein amendment, which lowers that minimum to .25%.  Under the current bill language, 62% of funding is allocated based on risk.  The Amendment changes the bill so that 87% of Homeland Security funding is based on risk.


[16:41]
Charles Schumer, NY.  He is arguing that the cities highest at risk should get a disproportionate amount of funding.  NYC and DC, namely.  He is talking about how in the last round of HS funding NYC and DC had their allocations cut.  He cites NYC's necessary decision to cut patrols on the Brooklyn Bridge.  He is offering an amendment that would lower the minimums allocated to each state, thus freeing up more money for the big states (CA, TX, NY).  This funding battle is a matter of urban vs. rural, and blurs party lines.


[16:30]
Senator Lieberman spoke at length regarding the formulae employed for dividing up Homeland Security funding.  He tried to indicate that everyone would get some of the money but that urban areas would be allocated plenty based on risk.  Still, those cities who believe they are at highest risk (NYC and DC) are clamoring for a bigger slice.


[15:10]
Joe Lieberman, CT.  He is going over the schedule.  They want to finish S.4, the 9/11 Commission Recommendations Bill, by the end of the week.  Two big votes coming up soon will be on (1) a motion to strike a portion of the bill that gives bargaining rights to employees of the federal Transportation Security Administration (TSA); and (2) the language in the bill describing how Homeland Security funds are doled out.


[14:44]
And then a round of applause rang out from the galleries, which I can't say I've ever heard before.  The President (McCaskill) rang the gavel and said, "The galleries will refrain—it is not appropriate to show signs of appreciation."  That is the rule of the Senate.  An odd occurrence to be sure; there must have been some group up there that knew Webb was going to offer the bill and plotted to pack the gallery and applaud.


[14:29]
Jim Webb, VA.  He is introducing a bill that requires Congressional authorization before any U.S. funds be expended in supporting military operations against Iran.  There are exceptions for "hot pursuit" and intelligence gathering.  The bill will not take any military option off of the table, he says.  But it represents Congress's intent to re-enter a Constitutional argument that has been absent from public debate.  Absent a direct attack or a clearly imminent threat, Webb says, the place to debate whether or not to go to war is the halls of Congress, not the White House.


[14:10]
John Cornyn, TX.  Wants to know how many minutes are—the Senate is in a quorum call, says the President (McCaskill)—I beg your pardon, I ask that the quorum call be rescinded.  Without objection.

He will talk about Homeland Security grant funding.  The amendment he likes is the one that dishes out funding based on security concerns, and not divvied up based on pork-barrel politics.  Senator Feinstein also supports this bill.


[14:07]
Byron Dorgan, ND.  Giving a speech/presentation on (1) Walter Reed; (2) al Qaeda as the #1 terror threat, who we have forgotten, somtimes called Osama Been Forgotten.  So he has an amendment to 9/11 Commission bill that requires a bi-annual report on bin Laden and al Qaeda.  Where is he?  What's he doing?  He yields the floor, makes a point of order that a quorum is not present.  The clerk will call the roll.  Mr. Akaka...


The Senate will begin work today at 13:30 est.  At 15:00, it will return to consideration of the 9/11 Commission Recommendations Bill, S.4.  There are now a bunch of amendments still to deal with, probably about 50 that have not yet been addressed in some way.  In its last meeting, the Senate approved by roll-call vote two amendments.