Joe Lieberman: “Of course we understand what war means to our country and average citizens. That is why our committee has labored so…”

“Of course we understand what war means to our country and average citizens. That is why our committee has labored so long and so hard to bring forth this bill creating a Department of Homeland Security, consulting with Members on both sides, working with the White House, to have what is, for the most part, a bipartisan piece of legislation. Senators have spoken this morning about the Senate being divided on this bill. The fact is, the Senate is not divided on this bill. The Gramm-Miller substitute, by Senator Gramm's own reckoning, is 95 percent the same as our Senate Governmental Affairs Committee bill. And it ought to be. We have a common ground desire to go ahead and create a Department of Homeland Security. We have a few areas we disagree on, the most significant of which, the most controversial of which, is the one that the Senator from Georgia has focused on. But I cannot let stand the question that somehow the committee bill, supported by nine Democrats and three Republicans--Senator Stevens, Senator Voinovich, Senator Collins-- somehow puts the protection of Federal workers ahead of national security.”