Jane Harman: “I am pleased that the rules package includes a provision that will make the Homeland Security Committee a permanent…”

“I am pleased that the rules package includes a provision that will make the Homeland Security Committee a permanent committee. More importantly, we will be giving the committee real oversight and legislative jurisdiction. But I am disappointed that the majority has only given shared jurisdiction to the Homeland Security Committee in some areas. This creates the potential for ongoing turf battles that the 9/11 Commission warned against. I am also discouraged that the majority has decided to add a third day of suspension bills to the legislative calendar each week. An increasing amount of legislation is being passed by the House under a suspension of the Rules. This is unnecessary and keeps us from doing the real business of the House--budgeting, appropriations and oversight. A perfect example of this is the massive omnibus appropriations bill passed for fiscal year 2005 just a few weeks ago. This bill was rushed to the floor, ignoring the House rule requiring a 3-day review period before voting on conference reports. Only after the House voted on the bill, careful scrutiny of the language uncovered a provision allowing certain Members and staff access to any American's tax return. Not only was this an embarrassing episode for the House leadership, it continued a troubling trend. In 4 out of the last 5 years, the majority has made a massive omnibus bill the only option to fund the government.”