Democrats avoid specifics on plan to implement 9/11 panel’s advice
Most of the commission’s recommendations have been implemented in some respects, but legislation is needed to fix gaps, aides say.
Despite House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi's pledge this week that Democrats will implement the recommendations of the commission that investigated the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks within the first 100 hours of taking control of the House, Democratic lawmakers and aides say they are not sure how they will do it.
How they plan to overcome anticipated committee turf battles that have bedeviled some Republican efforts to streamline oversight of homeland security programs also remains unclear.
"We didn't have all this up on the screen ready to hit to send," an aide to Pelosi acknowledged after Tuesday's elections. Another aide added: "We don't know what exactly will be brought to the floor."
Privately, Democratic aides acknowledged that most of the recommendations have been addressed in some way by the Bush administration or Republican-controlled Congress. But they said those recommendations have not been fully implemented or have been done in name only, creating a need for new legislation to fix the shortfalls.
Last December, for example, the commission gave failing grades to the government for freeing spectrum for emergency responders, allocating homeland security funds based only on risk, and improving airline passenger pre-screening.
A bill that lawmakers might look to as a blueprint is one from earlier this year that in June the former chairmen of the so-called 9/11 commission endorsed as "a comprehensive approach to carry out each of the recommendations."
The bill primarily would require the Bush administration to report to Congress on progress toward satisfying the recommendations and requirements under a 2004 intelligence law passed in response to the commission's recommendations. Notably, the Government Accountability Office would certify that the recommendations and requirements have been met.
The measure rolls together disparate pieces of legislation, such as one that would require more homeland security grants based on risk and one that would give emergency responders communications equipment.
But the bill could prompt a major turf battle in the new Congress. For example, the bill would give the House Homeland Security Committee exclusive jurisdiction in the House over the Homeland Security Department, essentially stripping the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee of some oversight.
The measure also would give the Intelligence Committee exclusive jurisdiction over intelligence matters, including the tactical intelligence and intelligence-related activities of the Defense Department. And it would require declassification of the overall intelligence budget, something the administration and some Republicans have fiercely fought.
Advocates of the legislation hope it will be considered by the Democratic leadership. Mary Fetchet, who lost her son in the 2001 attacks and founded the nonprofit Voices of September 11th, emphasized the need for further reform of congressional oversight.
The bill's co-sponsor, Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., deferred to leadership on how to proceed.
"All that matters is that we finally fully enact all of the commission's recommendations," she said. "I'm thrilled that we'll have a chance to get this done during the first 100 hours of the next Congress."