Robert C. Byrd

From my side of this table, number one is the Constitution of the United States, and the separation of power is doctrine, checks and balances.

I cannot believe that this Administration is asking for this.

Remember Lord Atkins' statement, 'Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.'

The greater the power, the more dangerous the abuse.

If Congress gives these additional powers to the executive branch, then Congress's powers, by the same token, are going to be lessened.

The Secretary of Defense would receive a new authority to spend $150 million for 'indigenous forces assisting U.S. military operations.'

The Secretary of Defense would be allowed to transfer up to $9 billion.

I have heard all these crocodile tears being shed here this morning about the straitjacket, as it were, that the Defense Department is being put in.

These expansive authorities are not just for the Secretary of Defense.

The extraordinary feature in the President's request is the extent to which funds are requested for unspecified purposes.

The Secretary of Defense would receive $59.9 billion of the $62.6 billion request for DOD through the Defense Emergency Response Fund.

What has changed in the last 9 weeks, Mr. Director? Nine weeks ago $5 billion for homeland security was extraneous. Now $4.2 billion is important enough to be part of an emergency supplemental bill. What has changed?

The only thing that the Administration's position on my amendment accomplished was that of delaying for 2 months or more our ability to secure the homeland.

Why is it that this Administration has been so slow to recognize a need to invest resources that the Congress has made available?

In January of this year, I offered an amendment to the fiscal year 2003 omnibus appropriations bill to add $5 billion for the critical homeland security programs.

How do we protect ourselves from these threats within our borders while protecting our privacy rights and our freedom to move about this great country?

Our country's openness, its diversity, its freedoms, and its values are in large measure the target of our terrorist enemies.

Making our Nation safe from the terrorist threat could be a bottomless pit.

You have said that we are a Nation at war, and another terrorist attack here in America is inevitable.

Will you continue to review the support that is given to families, our service members who have been taken prisoner, or who are missing in action, so that the military can do their utmost to provide the families with comfort at their most…

I think it should be stated for the record, at least as far as I know to date, there is no indication whatsoever that of the 19 hijackers on 9/11, not one was from Iraq, not one.

You have the flexibility of reprogramming up to $2 billion annually, and it seems to me that has worked very well in the past.

If it is for support of the troops, and for their safety, I do not think there will be any delay in that respect.

We need a tax cut so I can go to Disney World. Now that is outrageous nonsense.

I know Karl Rove thinks you need a tax cut in order to get reelected, but this is an embarrassment to this Senator.