Thomas Daschle: “Congress has no more solemn obligation than to ensure our Government can effectively defend the American people. We must…”

“Congress has no more solemn obligation than to ensure our Government can effectively defend the American people. We must put America's security first. The attacks of September 11 exposed serious weaknesses at every level of our Government's response to terrorism. Since that awful day, many of us in Congress have resolved to do everything possible to understand how a handful of terrorists could defeat the entire U.S. Government's defenses and then adapt those defenses in order to prevent future attacks and make America safer. The bill we are about vote on reflects the lessons of our inquiries. It is thorough, thoughtful, bipartisan, and most important, rooted firmly in the facts behind the greatest failure of American intelligence in our lifetime. When enacted, this legislation will improve our Government's ability to disrupt and prevent the kind of devastating attacks we witnessed that fateful day 3 years ago. In short, it will make America and Americans more secure.”