Mike Thompson: “the issue here with regard to this cloture motion is whether or not the President of the United States is entitled to an…”

“the issue here with regard to this cloture motion is whether or not the President of the United States is entitled to an up-or-down vote on his proposal to make this country more safe. I repeat. The issue--and the only issue--on this cloture vote is whether or not the President of the United States, at this time in our history, is entitled to an up-or-down vote on his proposal to make this country safer. I think the answer to that is yes and the answer to cloture should therefore be no. If there is not a dime's worth of difference between these proposals, I would like to think the President in this time in our history would be given the benefit of the doubt on these issues, which our friends on the other side say are really insignificant. The Senator from Connecticut says the evidence mounts as to shortcomings of the Federal bureaucracy and that it contributed to the problem we had on September 11. I could not agree more. My only question is: Then why are we not allowed to make some changes that might improve the situation? Gramm-Miller does provide for consultation. The implication has just been made that Gramm-Miller does not provide for consultation. Why shouldn't employees be brought in and enter into a dialog? It provides for that. However, the Nelson-Chafee-Breaux so-called compromise still puts additional hurdles in the path of this President that other Presidents have not had.”