Cord Byrd

There you have it in a nutshell. The CIA became a government within a government which could evade oversight of its activities by drawing the cloak of secrecy around it. For years my immediate predecessor as majority leader was Senator…

I hope the Senator will join me in insisting that this Senate debate the homeland security legislation and not rush that legislation. That is a part of national defense as much as anything. It is the defense of our homeland. So I hope the…

Let me finish this thought, and I will be happy to yield. I saw all those on television. They were talking about the President launching an attack on Iraq. I have no brief for the Government of Iraq. I have never met Mr. Ritter. I know…

We need to take the time and not act in haste. That is what we are being pushed to do, and the press, the media has not paid enough attention, in my judgment, overall, to this bill and to the Lieberman substitute. Somebody hasn't been…

I thank the very dedicated, patriotic, able, and distinguished Senator for the diligence with which he pursues his responsibilities as a U.S. Senator. I appreciate very much what he has said with reference to me. Those remarks are very…

House Republicans yesterday criticized the majority leader and the managers of the bill, Senator Lieberman, for not moving quickly enough to pass legislation to create a new Homeland Security Department. They accuse the Senate Democratic…

I am just delighted that he came to the floor and made this statement. I am delighted that he believes we should take our time. Not an exorbitant amount of time, not an inordinate amount of time, but take time, the necessary time to…

Yes, allusions to that act, the National Security Act, which was created in 1947 after a period of at least 3 or 4 years. This Senator is aware of the allusions that have been made to that act and the references that have been equated, the…

Just in a moment, if I may, and then I will yield. They are undergoing all of these changes. This will all be done within a period of 13 months following the signing by the President of the act. Thirteen months after that act becomes law…

Absolutely. The Senator, by his question, has really answered his question. We saw that the country took more time in the 1940s to create a Department of Defense. It took time. It had the input of the heads of the military branches and…

By requiring Senate confirmation of this new Director of the National Office for Combating Terrorism, Congress will ensure that its concerns over the implementation of homeland security strategy will not be subordinated to the political…

And I am only on page 3 of page 4. Well, that is just a start. As John Paul Jones said, ``We have just begun to fight.'' I have in my pocket the Constitution of the United States and the Declaration of Independence. Once I finished page 4…

And I have just read three and a half pages. I am a slow reader. I had a feeling that Senators just wanted me to keep on. They don't want to come over and hear this. I am trying to get their attention. Three and a half pages in 2 hours 15…

I wasn't really aware of the passage of time. Along that line, may I say, let me see if I can quote a little verse by someone else: The clock of life is wound but once, And no man has the power to know just when the hand will strike, at…

on Tuesday, September 10, 2002, the Attorney General announced an increase in the national threat level to the ``High Risk'' level. The President accepted the recommendation based on what the Attorney General described as specific…

I have been saying to my Senate colleagues that we had better take some time and look at what we are doing. What was about to happen, in my judgment, would have borne out my concerns and my warnings. An amendment has been offered by the…

Mr. President, I have heard the concerns of some of my colleagues about establishing a statutory office within the Executive Office of the President with a Director confirmed by the Senate. I have heard the arguments that Congress would be…

going back to Mr. Dean's column--as I say, he wrote it back in April of this year--he expressed concerns about entrusting responsibilities, such as coordinating homeland security, to a White House aide with no statutory authority. John…

the President talks a lot about the coffee shop in Crawford, TX, which brings to mind Uncle Josh and Aunt Nancy's Smokehouse in West Virginia where I have been talking with people for a long time. You ought to come down to that shop…

throughout this debate--and there really hasn't been a lot of debate--there was talk about rushing this bill through and putting it on the President's desk before the August recess. Then there was kind of a fallback position in which it…

The United Nations, I think, has a duty to let the world know where it stands and what its opinion is. If this country is going to eventually go into a difficult situation, as may confront us, if war is declared by this legislative branch…

I hope Senators will come to the floor if they have anything to say by way of debate on the pending amendment, if they have an amendment to the amendment. I hope Senators will come to the floor and exercise their right to offer amendments…

I am about to send to the desk an amendment. Before doing so, let me just briefly tell Senators what this amendment is about. This amendment is being offered by myself, Senator Burns, Senator Stevens, and other Senators. It addresses the…

September 11 is now one of the darkest days in American history because of the almost 3,000 innocent lives that were taken and because of the way in which the American people were jarred from the dream that we would experience a time of…

the President wants the Congress to grant the administration the authority to write its own civil service system, regardless of what has been written in current law, that would apply only to Federal workers within a new Department of…