Joe Lieberman: “I join in thanking the Senator from Minnesota. Senator Coleman really hung in there with us and did the hard work in…”

“I join in thanking the Senator from Minnesota. Senator Coleman really hung in there with us and did the hard work in July, August, and September, both in attending the hearings and in helping to draft a bill over a 2-day markup. His statement today means a lot to us personally, but I hope and believe it will mean a lot to the other Members of the Senate because it is a strong explanation of why this bill is urgently necessary. People asked earlier: What is the rush? People today asked: What is the rush? The rush is, we were attacked on September 11. It is more than 3 years later, and Congress has not acted to adequately reorganize our intelligence assets community, which the 9/11 Commission told us, and everybody agrees, does not have a leader in charge. Right now--what is his name?--Zawahiri, the second to bin Laden in al-Qaida, last week put out another tape urging Islamist terrorists around the world to attack America and Americans. So we are at war, and we are not properly defending ourselves. That is the urgency.”