Jay Rockefeller: “the Senate is poised to take action today that is more than two years overdue. Today we will pass the Fiscal Year 2008…”

“the Senate is poised to take action today that is more than two years overdue. Today we will pass the Fiscal Year 2008 Intelligence Authorization bill. For the first 27 years after Congress created the intelligence oversight committees, the annual authorization bill was considered absolute-must-pass legislation. Its importance to our national security was obvious to all. But in 2005 and 2006, the bills reported out of the Senate Intelligence Committee were never even brought before the Senate for consideration. I still cannot explain the reasons this happened, but thanks to hard work of the committee and the support of the majority leader, Senator Reid, we are about to correct that failing. The Intelligence Authorization bill is the tool the Congress uses to provide direction for the execution of some of the most sensitive and important national security programs conducted by the U.S. Government. This year's bill contains provisions, including specific requests from the Director of National Intelligence, intended to improve the work of the intelligence community.”