Tom Carper: “I say to our chairwoman of the committee, Senator Collins, a heartfelt thank-you for the leadership and persistence that…”

“I say to our chairwoman of the committee, Senator Collins, a heartfelt thank-you for the leadership and persistence that she and my good friend Joe Lieberman have demonstrated to get us to this day. I also say to the President, thanks for using some of that political capital. You picked up a little bit last month, and I am pleased you have decided to invest a little bit of it in a worthwhile cause. I plan to vote for this bill. I was privileged to be a member of the committee in the Senate that developed the proposal under which this bill is based, and we are happy to be here for this day. To the members of the 9/11 Commission who have worked hard for about 18 months, their staff, a lot of folks who lost loved ones who provided the impetus, really the wind beneath the wings for the Commission and really for this effort, I say just a heartfelt thank-you for their efforts, and I hope they are pleased with where we are today. Is this proposal perfect? No. Few of mine are. Is it better? You bet it is. It is a real improvement. Back in 1947, the year I was born, the CIA was born as well. The intelligence structure that was created around the CIA and Cold-War years that followed was a structure that was designed to enable us to win the war against communism, the Cold War. That war is over. We won that war. We have a new war that we are fighting today, and it is a war against terrorism.”