Mike Thompson: “before we vote, it is important we understand the parameters of the Nelson-Chafee-Breaux amendment. Two points: One has…”

“before we vote, it is important we understand the parameters of the Nelson-Chafee-Breaux amendment. Two points: One has to do with the President's national security authority, and the other has to do with flexibility. This amendment is purported to be a compromise. Senator Gramm has worked diligently, and he and Senator Miller have made about 25 changes. They have a compromise that is a good one and one the President supports. The compromise represented by the Nelson-Chafee-Breaux amendment is not really a good compromise, with all due respect to those who have made this effort, because of those two areas I mentioned. With regard to the President's national security authority, it changes the current law which says if the President makes a determination the primary function of an agency has to do with national security, he can act under that law to protect the national security. The changes in the Nelson amendment would make it so the President would have to make a determination the activity involved would have to be related to terrorist activities, and then this additional requirement that the new position to which the people in the agency have been transferred, the majority of those people have essentially had a change in the function of their job and those things are reviewable by courts.”