Cord Byrd: “last November Congress enacted the largest reorganization of the Federal Government in half a century. At that time, the…”

“last November Congress enacted the largest reorganization of the Federal Government in half a century. At that time, the Senate was under extraordinary pressure to pass a bill quickly. The President traveled the country giving campaign speeches accusing the Senate of not caring about homeland security. The Senate responded by hastily approving the massive reorganization before Members had a chance to study the contents of the 484 pages that were dropped into our laps just a few days before the vote. There were a lot of items in that legislation that would not have survived scrutiny had the Senate spent more time debating the bill. A number of Senators objected to certain provisions in the bill and introduced amendments. But those amendments were never considered because the Senate voted to shut off debate. A good many Senators wanted to put the bill behind us even if it meant settling for a bill that needed more scrutiny. One of the imperfections that the Senate was willing to accept was the unprecedented secrecy that was given to the new Department of Homeland Security. Although the original version of the bill took a responsible, moderate approach to ensure public accountability, the final version that was dumped on the Senate gave the Department carte blanche to conduct its operations in secret. I filed amendments to scale back this excessive secrecy, as did several other Senators.”