Louise Slaughter: “I oppose this rule. The measure appeared at 7 a.m. this morning at the Committee on Rules with no opportunity for…”

“I oppose this rule. The measure appeared at 7 a.m. this morning at the Committee on Rules with no opportunity for Members to review it beforehand, and no amendments are allowed. For those two reasons I will oppose this rule. I would note that creating a Department of Homeland Security was the Democrat Party's idea and has been a Democratic priority since September 11 made clear America's terrifying vulnerabilities to terrorism. For 8 long months after the terrorist attacks this last year, Democrats were almost alone in insisting that the government be reorganized to make homeland security a cabinet-level priority. Sure, we had the support of a few brave Republicans, but the leadership of the Republican Party strongly opposed the idea. House Republican leaders blocked the Department of Homeland Security, and the White House argued strenuously that America did not need it. Then, Mr. Speaker, something happened to change Republican minds in Washington. Simply put, the public learned the full magnitude of the FBI's incompetence before September 11. As the entire Nation watched, FBI whistleblower Colleen Rowley explained how the FBI leadership had hindered our investigation of Zacarias Moussaoui; and the White House realized it had a major political problem, so they flip-flopped to save their political skin. However, unfortunately, they did not stop using homeland security as a political prop since then.”