Joe Lieberman: “As I have heard the Senator read this last section from his amendment, it seems to me that what it requires is that…”

“As I have heard the Senator read this last section from his amendment, it seems to me that what it requires is that Congress finish its action on proposals made by the administration, fill in the blanks in the five directorates within 13 months--not that they would actually be up and running--whereas the underlying committee proposal requires that the full Department be implemented no later than 13 months after the President signs. And presumably substantial chunks of it would be implemented before. My fear, naturally, is that not only has the Senator, I repeat, taken the heart out of our proposal but that there is no clear date in the Senator's amendment by which Members of the Senate or the American people can have confidence that there will actually be a Department of Homeland Security.”