The DeGette Report

Statement

Dear Friends,

On Saturday morning, the House of Representatives rushed to complete the lame-duck 108th Congress. There were many outstanding issues to tackle, including passing a funding plan for the federal government that was due October 1 and a long-delayed intelligence reform proposal to implement the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission.

The $388 billion plan to fund the federal government, which was 14.75 inches thick, arrived on Members' desks only hours before they had to vote on it. It included funding such pork as $350,000 for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame to $1,000,000 for the Norwegian American Foundation to $500,000 for weed control in Idaho. Despite the fact that it was laden with huge amounts of needless spending and not one Member of Congress had the time to read the entire proposal, the House approved it Saturday morning. This is not the way to responsibly manage taxpayers' dollars, let alone run the federal government. That is why I strongly opposed this wasteful proposal.

Even more troubling, a plan was snuck into the spending proposal to authorize several Representatives and their staff members to view the tax returns of any American they desire. There is absolutely no justification for this type of invasion of privacy. The fact that this kind of insidious language was snuck into the spending plan just reinforces that this is not the way that the Republican leadership should be running the government. While Republican leaders in the House and Senate have assured us that this language will be removed, it sets a very dangerous precedent.

Unfortunately, this was not the only troubling event in Congress over the weekend. Despite the fact that Republicans control the House, the Senate and the White House - and President George W. Bush has stated his strong support for reforming American intelligence agencies - they failed to pass the intelligence reform plan. Given the ongoing threats our nation faces, it is critical that we fix the problems in our intelligence agencies identified by the 9/11 Commission. This proposal had strong bi-partisan support and was endorsed by many of the families of 9/11 victims. But we cannot accomplish this if the party that controls the government is unwilling to even vote on the plan. If Congress does not pass it by December 31, we will have to start from scratch next year in the 109th Congress, creating dangerous and potentially life-threatening delays in protecting our national security.

This should not be a partisan issue. I will continue to work with my Republican and Democratic colleagues who want to solve the problems in our intelligence organizations. To move forward, however, the Republican leaders in the House must allow us to vote on the proposal. This has not yet happened.

Warmest Regards,

Diana

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