Mike Thompson: “I welcome the opportunity, while I have two of my close friends and respected Members who are sponsoring this amendment…”

“I welcome the opportunity, while I have two of my close friends and respected Members who are sponsoring this amendment here on the floor, to hopefully enter into a discussion under the rules of the Senate and with the consent of our colleagues as to some of the details of this proposal, as to what is intended, as to what we are trying to accomplish, and as to whether or not this is the best way to accomplish it. I commend my colleagues for their effort. I think they have had for a long time the idea of a commission--a long time before a lot of other people who are now calling for one. They have had this vision. Quite frankly, I have tried to keep an open mind with regard to the wisdom of it. I sit on the Intelligence Committee. Right now, we are having bipartisan and bicameral hearings with regard to many issues, some of which have to do with 9/11. I ask my colleagues--either or both of them--how they view the role of the commission with regard to the intelligence issues.”