Sean Patrick Maloney: “I rise today disappointed that the Rules Committee would not allow an amendment that would have provided the new…”

“I rise today disappointed that the Rules Committee would not allow an amendment that would have provided the new Department of Homeland Security with the tools that are necessary to appropriately respond to a terrorist attack or another Homeland Security Emergency. The amendment that I speak of is one that I offered in the Committee on Government Reform, where it passed by a unanimous vote. Government Reform is the Committee that had primary jurisdiction in the creation of this new department, yet much of its wonderful bipartisan work was unexplainably rejected by the Majority, was not allowed in today's Bill and is not even being allowed a chance to be debated on the floor today. Obviously, prevention needs to be our and the Department of Homeland Security's number-one priority, and we must do everything possible to prevent all future attacks. However, there are two major priorities for homeland security--not only preventing terrorism, but also responding to the impacts of terrorism should it occur again. With this reorganization, we seem to have only focused on the first. If a fail-safe system cannot be created, then why are we being blocked today from taking the lessons learned from the worst terrorist attack in American history and using the research of GAO, CRS and the NY Federal Reserve to create an improved system of response? Experience is often the best teacher and very regrettably, New York learned much on 9/11.”