Sean Patrick Maloney: “I had an amendment with Mr. Udall which would have raised the funding amount to $3 million. I feel that the $750,000 is…”

“I had an amendment with Mr. Udall which would have raised the funding amount to $3 million. I feel that the $750,000 is certainly welcomed and needed, but I regret that we were not able to achieve the additional $1.5 million. One way that this Congress and the President can show their support for a program is the level of funding that is appropriated, and when we passed the very important intelligence reform bill, a very important provision of this bill, and a recommendation, one of the top recommendations of the 9/11 Commission, was the creation of a governmentwide Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board. This board, if given the proper funding and authority, has the opportunity to enhance our security and protect our Nation's core values as we fight to prevent terrorism. The bill before us provides up to $1.5 million in funding, as part of the Executive Office of the President. The Maloney-Tom Udall amendment would have increased the amount of the board to $3 million. This board is to be funded from the $52 million account provided for in the Executive Office of the President, and our amendment would further draw from this account. We had hoped that it would have passed. I want to say that if we value human rights and civil liberties, we should be funding this board. We had a hearing on it earlier, and they only had one staff member and one administrator.…”