Mike Capuano: “I just rise briefly to congratulate the chairman, the ranking member, and the chairman and the ranking member of the…”

“I just rise briefly to congratulate the chairman, the ranking member, and the chairman and the ranking member of the subcommittee. This is a classic piece of legislation that hopefully will never, ever, ever be used. No one, hopefully, will ever know that we actually did this because if they do, it means we will have suffered another terrorist attack. At the same time, it is absolutely necessary. We have heard of all the details of what is not here, but to me, the most important thing that is not here is the formal mechanism to make sure that we are not stuck in the same position a few years from now. I fear that if we do not get to work in an official way through a commission, that we will be here a few years from now doing this all over again, simply saying we could not get it done and we did not do it right, and that is a travesty to the American people. It is unnecessary, and I will tell the Members that, based on this experience and past experience, particularly with the chairman, he is a man of honor, he is a man of his word, and I know he will be pushing as best he can to get this Congress to pay attention to this issue for the next year so that we will not be placed in this position.”