On the recordSeptember 29, 2010
Let me just say that I agree with the gentleman from New Jersey that we do have an independent constitutional responsibility to obtain the information that is necessary for us to do our job, not just on covert action but on all information. That is one of the reasons I was so disappointed at this fig leaf notification provision which is in this bill. Madam Speaker, there are all sorts of bad ideas that start coming out and can even pass one body or another unanimously at the end of a session, but this bill is not a real bill. We have talked several times about the classified annex. What that means is a line-by-line description of the various intelligence programs and how much funding would go to each of them. That is the basic essence of an intelligence authorization bill, and yet that does not exist with this bill. That is what had bipartisan support over the last 1 rac{1}{2} years as we have been working on it. But then, when it comes to the floor, that part suddenly gets dropped. What is left is just a rubber stamp of what the appropriators have done, and that does include the earmarks that the gentleman from Michigan talked about. So instead of coming to fruition for the work that this committee has done for the past 1 rac{1}{2} years, instead we get what the Senate will accept or are expected to rubber-stamp it over here and pretend we have done something. But we haven't.
