|
 |
CNN LIVE EVENT/SPECIAL
Senators Give Press Conference about Anti-Terrorist Legislation
Aired October 25, 2001 - 14:16 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
AARON BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: We expect Senator Tom Daschle and others to be out shortly to talk about the anti-terrorism legislation that is trying to make its way through the Congress these days. And I am told Senator Daschle is at the microphone in the gallery so we will go there now.
(JOINED IN PROGRESS)
DASCHLE: We wanted to comment on the extraordinary developments in the last couple of days and the passage of this legislation in an overwhelming basis now, not only in the House, but in the Senate as well.
This reflects the balance between protection of civil liberties and privacy with the need for greater law enforcement. I am extremely pleased with this work product. It addresses money laundering. It addresses all of the needs that have been brought to our attention by the attorney general and this administration.
I will say this would not have happened were it not for the extraordinary work of Senators Leahy and Hatch and a number of others who worked diligently over the course of the last several weeks to make this a reality. So I am here to congratulate them, to say how pleased we are that at long last we've completed our work, and that we've done so with the overwhelming support of the United States Senate -- Senator Lott.
SEN. TRENT LOTT (R-MS), MINORITY LEADER: Well, thank you, Senator Daschle.
I think we should remind ourselves that some three weeks ago it looked like this legislation was hopelessly tangled up and it just wasn't going to happen. Within a week after that, we saw that a package was agreed to. We took it up in the Senate. There were attempts to offer amendments which may have been meritorious, but that would have been damaging to the bill. Senator Daschle took the floor I think three separate times and argued that we had a delicately balanced package that had been cobbled together by Senator Leahy, Senator Hatch, Congressman Sensenbrenner had been involved. This has been a bipartisan effort. We passed the bill overwhelmingly and so did the House.
And then, there was another occasion, to add some good and bipartisan and meritorious provisions. But all of us agreed the most important thing was to get this legislation done; to get the anti- terrorism bill done with the money laundering. And these other issues could be addressed on another bill, in another way, at another time. So there's been a lot of bipartisan courage shown here and it's produced a good result.
The men with us here can give you the specifics. But I do want to just note a couple of points I think are really important.
This legislation ensures that every law enforcement and intelligence agency with information on terrorist activities can readily share it with others who need to know. There has been some indication that maybe that does not happen, or maybe they didn't have the authority to do that. That's going to be clarified to the maximum extent in this legislation.
It also ensures that our intelligence and surveillance activities keep up with modern technology. We need to do more. We know that. We need to put perhaps even some more money in making sure that our law enforcement entities have the most modern equipment in doing their job. But this is a major step forward and while we sometimes, you know, do question each other about doing the right thing, this time we have done it and we've done it together.
I also have to mention that Senator Gramm and Senator Sarbanes took this money laundering issue and produced a good piece of legislation and it's a part of this bill. So I think this is another important sign that we're doing what needs to be done for our country and for what we learned on September 11. It's not always easy, but we are going to do what is needed so that our president, who has shown real leadership, our attorney general, and the Congress in a bipartisan way, can work together and get the right work done.
SEN. PATRICK LEAHY (D-VT), CHAIRMAN, SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: Let me thank both leaders for this. And I especially want to thank Senator Daschle for saying that the committee process would work. And that we would take time to look at what was in the administration's proposal. And we began to stop trying to see how much we could take out of the administration's proposal, but find the sensible and workable way to do the things that needed to be done with checks and balances, and provision after provision. We did that adding safeguards in it.
I've said several times during this debate what Benjamin Franklin said, that a people who would trade their liberties for security deserve neither. And that's what we are after in this. We've been hurt terribly as a nation. We do have to improve our security and we will do that. If we give up our liberties in improving our securities the terrorists win.
This is a nation that's become strong and great as a democracy with Constitutional checks and balances. We brought a lot of people's interest into this from both sides of the aisle. And with tremendous staff, many of whom have been former prosecutors who have practiced law in the private sector, and whatever else that was necessary. The intelligence community, and justice, everywhere else, we wanted something that worked. We didn't want a bill that simply said we passed a bill, because that accomplishes nothing for anybody. We wanted a bill that said, we are going to be a safer nation. We are going to be a more secure nation, but we are going to be a nation protecting its liberties. We've done that. And I'm glad to see this bill -- we now have a bill that I'm proud to see go to the president. I thank out leaders in this. The gestation period has been a few weeks but it is a lot better than giving birth to a monster, and we didn't do that.
BROWN: Senator Patrick Leahy is the chairman of Senate Judiciary Committee. We saw Orrin Hatch standing behind him. The two Senate leaders, Democrat and Republican, patting themselves on the back for having passed now an anti-terrorism package that makes it easier, considerably easier to wiretap, easier to share information among intelligence agencies. Tougher laws dealing with money laundering was somewhat of an issue. The White House, the administration, didn't get everything it wanted here.
We'll talk more about that with our White House correspondent coming up in a little bit. We will take a short break first. Our coverage continues in a moment.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
|
|
|
|
|
