Joe Lieberman: “I rise to support the motion for cloture that will be voted on in about 15 minutes. This is a way to begin bringing this…”

“I rise to support the motion for cloture that will be voted on in about 15 minutes. This is a way to begin bringing this debate on the creation of a Department of Homeland Security to a close and to allow our Government to begin the urgent business of creating this new Department. For those of us who have supported this idea for over a year now, this moment is long overdue. I am troubled by the draft of the substitute bill that began circulating yesterday which, in my view, has not only a number of very good parts in it which are quite similar to those contained in the bipartisan bill reported out of the Governmental Affairs Committee but also has a number of serious shortcomings that I hope to discuss when it comes to the floor either later today or tomorrow. I am especially concerned that this new substitute bill creating a Department of Homeland Security also contains a number of special interest provisions that are being sprung on the Senate without prior warning or consideration. This is really not the time for that. We all ought to be focusing on the terrorist threat, the need to create a Department of Homeland Security to meet that threat, and not on using a vehicle that is probably moving to passage to put into it a host of pet personal projects.”