By AC Writer
During the weeks and months preceding last November’s midterm Congressional elections, Democrats repeatedly pledged to implement all of the recommendations of the 9/11 commission, the panel that investigated how and why the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 had happened, and laid out steps the federal government could take to prevent such a thing from ever happening to Americans again. While some of the panel’s recommendations will be put into effect during the coming legislative sessions, congressional Democratic leaders say they will not implement the measures in full. Brian De Bose reported in the Washington Times that the recommendation to place all intelligence agencies under the Department of Defense is, as Steny H. Hoyer says, “…not on the table.” Hoyer is a Democratic Representative from Maryland and is the Majority Leader in the House of Representatives. Another 9/11 agenda item for Democrats is a plan to pass a legislative bill that would distribute federal funds based on the level of risk for a particular city or geographic region. Under such a plan, major targets like New York City and Washington, D.C. would receive more money than remote places in the Midwest that are at less risk for terrorist attack. The problem with the plan, though, is that it is expected to be defeated in the Senate, where the 100 members of that legislative body closely guard money designated for their respective states. Another recommendation unlikely to be put into effect, according to the Washington Times, is the tasking of one House committee to oversee both intelligence operations and intelligence funding. Democrats want to create a new panel that would assist with congressional oversight of these areas. Failure to follow through on campaign promises concerning homeland security could be problematic for Democrats trying to portray themselves as a party just as strong on national security as the Republicans. According to the Times, Republicans are waiting for Democrats to concede what they have been saying for years: that many of the remaining 9/11 commission recommendations are not practical and should not be implemented. As Representative Peter Hoekstra, a Michigan Republican and the ranking minority member on the intelligence panel says, “I think what Democrats are finding in some of the 9/11 recommendations we didn’t implement, looking closely at them…these are not good ideas.” Information for this article was gathered from “Democrats Backpedal on 9/11 Commission,” by Brian De Bose in the January 6, 2007edition of The Washington Times.
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