Chuck Grassley

Mr. GRASSLEY

Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, I raise a point of order.

Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, I yield 1 minute to the Senator from New Mexico.

Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, I yield myself such time as I might consume off the bill.

Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the pending amendment be set aside, and I send an amendment to the desk that has been cleared by both sides.

Mr. GRASSLEY. I ask unanimous consent the reading of the amendment be dispensed with.

Mr. GRASSLEY. I am pleased to be able to report to Senator Kennedy that we do not need a board to tell us how to end poverty. I quote Washington Post columnist William Raspberry, writing in a recent op-ed piece: Fatherless families are America's single largest source of poverty. The Annie E. Casey Foundation, ``Kids Count,'' once reported that Americans who failed to complete high school, to get married and to reach age 20 before having their first child were nearly 10 times as likely to live in poverty as those who did these three things. The Brookings Institution, obviously a liberal think tank, published an analysis of a variety of factors that could reduce poverty. The authors from Brookings concluded that the combination of education, full-time work, and marriage could reduce poverty rates from 13 percent to 17 percent. The bipartisan welfare reform bill reported out of the Senate Committee on Finance would make substantial progress in helping families make progress in areas that we know would reduce poverty. We could not get an agreement with the other side to get this legislation discussed on the floor. We got it out of the committee in a bipartisan way. It deals with the issues of education, work, and marriage. Following upon the views of the Brookings Institute and the views of the Annie E. Casey Foundation, rather than engage in politically motivated efforts, we should work together to implement these serious policies of education, of work, and of marriage. Together, by implementing these policies, and we know these policies work, we will take one giant step toward reducing poverty. I don't think Senator Kennedy's amendment is necessary. I yield the floor.

Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, I raise a point of order the amendment is not germane to the underlying legislation.

Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, I yield whatever time he might consume of my remaining time to the Senator from Wyoming.

Mr. GRASSLEY. I yield off the bill such time as the Senator from South Dakota might consume. Iraq And Prewar Intelligence

Mr. GRASSLEY. Yes.

Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, I would be happy if Ms. Murkowski explained this issue in further detail.

Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, I thank Ms. Murkowski for explaining this issue in more detail.

Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, we are ready for third reading.

Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. GRASSLEY

Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, I spend most of my time with the work of the Judiciary Committee and the work of the Finance Committee. I do not get into intelligence and Armed Services issues very often. But I listened to Senator Kennedy's criticism of President Bush and Vice President Cheney that they deceived the American people. I saw some things on television last night of which Senator Kennedy ought to be reminded. If he watched television last night, he might have a little different view. I heard him say that President Bush maybe had more information than Congress had, and so it was wrong for the President today to say that Congress is rewriting history in any way because he maybe had more information than we had. I believe that is what Senator Kennedy said. I do not know for sure if the President has more information than we have because when I go upstairs to S-407, to our secure briefing room, I am assuming I am getting the same information as the President is getting. Perhaps not as often, but getting the same information. So I think it is ludicrous to say that Members of the Senate cannot be up to speed on what the threats are to our Nation. But, for sure, if he had watched television last night, he would have heard a speech by President Clinton in 1998. The speech was on the threat of Saddam Hussein to our country at that time. Surely, Senator Kennedy cannot deny that President Clinton had exactly the same information President Bush would have had from our intelligence community. I very clearly heard President Clinton, when he was President, speak of the terrible threat that Saddam Hussein was to the world and to America, and that he was going down a road to do something about it. Now, obviously, that did not happen. But we did pass a resolution called the Iraqi Liberation Act, where Congress, in a unanimous vote took a position at that period of time that we considered Saddam Hussein a threat and that he ought to be removed from office, from the leadership of his country. If President Clinton, while he was in office, using that intelligence, saw Saddam Hussein as a threat, the same way President Bush did, I do not see how any Democrat can be on the floor of the Senate and say the President of the United States is deceiving the American people. Also, last night I happened to hear a 2- or 3-minute speech by Senator Clinton, made in 2002, how horrible Saddam Hussein was and how he was somebody to fear and a threat and the inclination of doing something about it. It is intellectually dishonest for any Democrat to come to the floor and accuse our President of misleading the American people. They ought to be ashamed of themselves. Have they no shame? I have something I want to refer to because we have had people outside the Congress, outside the administration, look at some of these very issues. We had the Robb-Silberman commission report. Senator Robb is a former Democratic Member of this body. Judge Silberman is a Republican, served on the DC Circuit. They gave a report about Presidential daily briefings versus what is in the National Intelligence Estimate. There is no significant difference between the two reports, the Presidential daily briefing and the National Intelligence Estimate. Quoting from the report: It was not that the intelligence was markedly different. Rather, it was that the PDBs and the SEIBs, with their attention-grabbing headlines and drumbeat of repetition, left an impression of many corroborating reports where in fact there were very few sources. And in other instances, intelligence suggesting the existence of weapons programs was conveyed to senior policymakers, but later information casting doubt upon the validity of that intelligence was not. That is shortcomings of our intelligence community, the same shortcomings that President Clinton probably experienced during his time in office, when he was making estimates of the threat of Saddam Hussein, the same way that President Bush was making those estimates. The Robb-Silberman commission found Presidential daily briefings to contain similar intelligence in ``more alarmist'' and ``less nuanced'' language. Continuing to quote: As problematic as the October 2002 [National Intelligence Estimate] was, it was not the Community's biggest analytic failure on Iraq. Even more misleading was the river of intelligence that flowed from the CIA to top policymakers over long periods of time--in the President's Daily Brief and in its more widely distributed companion, the Senior Executive Intelligence Brief. These daily reports were, if anything, more alarmist and less nuanced than the [National Intelligence Estimate]. That is what one former Democratic Senator and a Republican judge, appointed to a commission to look into this, have reported. When you take all of these things into consideration, plus the quotes of Senator Clinton that I referred to in the year 2002 that I saw on television last night, or the statements by President Clinton in 1998 when he was President that I saw on television last night, it seems to me it is absolutely wrong and misleading to come up here and say the President of the United States and the Vice President were deceiving the American people, particularly when Senators can have briefings if they want them.

Mr. GRASSLEY

Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, today I pay tribute to a true American hero, SSG Kyle B. Wehrly. On November 3, 2005, Staff Sergeant Wehrly was tragically killed in action during Operation Iraqi Freedom by an improvised explosive device outside of Ashraf, Iraq. He served with B Battery of the 2nd battalion, 123rd Field Artillery Regiment in the Army National Guard. I request that all Americans join me today in honoring Staff Sergeant Wehrly. We should all remember his bravery, his compassion, and his final sacrifice to the cause of freedom. Throughout our history, great men and women have stood up and given their lives for their country, and it is with great sadness that we pay tribute to another brave American whose time with us was all too short. Staff Sergeant Wehrly patriotically joined the National Guard when he was only a junior in high school and was sent to the Middle East in October 2004. Upon his arrival in Iraq, his father, Rev. Peter Wehrly of Springfield, IL, recalls that his son only wanted to be sent things he could give away to the Iraqi children. ``All he wanted was stuff for kids. Candy, flip-flops. . . . We had five boxes of stuff. He didn't want anything for himself,'' Reverend Wehrly said. All those who knew Staff Sergeant Wehrly will greatly miss him. My prayers go out to his family and friends in their time of grief, his father Peter, his mother Nita, and his wife Janet. We should especially remember Staff Sergeant Wehrly's 6-year-old daughter, Kylee, who will unfortunately grow up with too few memories of her courageous and compassionate father. Our thoughts and prayers are with her and with the entire family. It is important to remind them and to remind all Americans that Staff Sergeant Wehrly did not die in vain but, rather, died protecting his country and protecting the freedom of countless individuals around the world. May he always be remembered as the true American hero that he was.

Mr. GRASSLEY

Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on the Judiciary be authorized to meet to conduct a markup on Thursday, November 17, 2005 at 9:30 a.m. in Senate Dirksen Office Building Room 226. Agenda I. Nominations Joseph Frank Bianco, to be U.S. District Judge for the Eastern District of New York; Timothy Mark Burgess, to be U.S. District Judge for the District of Alaska; Gregory F. Van Tatenhove, to be U.S. District Judge for the Eastern District of Kentucky; Eric Nicholas Vitaliano, to be U.S. District Judge for the Eastern District of New York; James O'Gara, to be Deputy Director for Supply Reduction, Office of National Drug Control Policy; Emilio Gonzalez, to be Director of the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services, Department of Homeland Security; Catherine Lucille Hanaway, to be U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri; Carol E. Dinkins, to be Chairman of the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board; Alan Charles Raul, to be Vice Chairman of the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board. II. Bills S. 1088, Streamlined Procedures Act of 2005, Kyl, Cornyn, Grassley, Hatch; S. 1789, Personal Data Privacy and Security Act of 2005, Specter, Leahy, Feinstein, Feingold; S. 751, Notification of Risk to Personal Data Act, Feinstein, Kyl; H.R. 683, Trademark Dilution Revision Act of 2005, Smith-TX; S. 1967, A bill to amend title 18, United States Code, with respect to certain activities of the Secret Service, and for other purposes, Specter; S. 1961, Extending the Child Safety Pilot Program Act of 2005, Biden, Hatch, Cornyn; S. 1354, Wartime Treatment Study Act, Feingold, Grassley, Kennedy; S. ------, Comprehensive Immigration Reform, Chairman's Mark. III. Matters S.J. Res. 1, Marriage Protection Amendment, Allard, Sessions, Kyl, Hatch, Cornyn, Coburn, Brownback.

Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry be authorized to conduct a hearing during the session of the Senate on Thursday, November 17, 2005 at 10 a.m. in 328A, Senate Russell Office Building. The purpose of this Committee hearing will be to consider the role of U.S. agriculture in the control and eradication of avian influenza.

Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on November 17, 2005, at 10 a.m., to conduct a hearing on ``A Review of the GAO Report on the Sale of Financial Products to Military Personnel.''

Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation be authorized to meet on Thursday, November 17, 2005, at 2:30 p.m., on pending Committee business.

Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on the Judiciary be authorized to meet to meet to conduct a hearing on ``Recent Developments in Assessing Future Asbestos Claims Under the FAIR Act'' on Thursday, November 17, 2005 at 2 p.m. in the Dirksen Senate Office Building Room 226. Panel I: Douglas Holtz-Eakin, Ph.D., Director, Congressional Budget Office, Washington, DC. Panel II: Charles Bates, Ph.D., Chairman, Bates White LLC, Washington, DC; Laura Welch, M.D., Medical Director, Center to Protect Workers Rights, Washington, DC; Mark Peterson, Ph.D., President, Legal Analysis Systems, Thousand Oaks, CA; Mark Lederer, Chief Financial Officer, Claims Resolution Management Corporation (aka The Manville Trust), Katonah, NY; Denise Martin, Ph.D., Sr. Vice President, National Economic Research Associates, New York, NY.

Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Select Committee on Intelligence be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on November 17, 2005 at 10:30 a.m. to hold a closed hearing.

Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Environment and Public Works be authorized to hold a business meeting on November 17, 2005 at 9:30 a.m. to consider the following agenda: S. 1708 ``Emergency Lease Requirements Act of 2005.'' S. 1496 ``Electronic Duck Stamp Act of 2005.'' S. 1165 ``James Campbell National Wildlife Refuge Expansion Act of 2005.'' S.__ ``Army Corps Assessment Authorization for the State of Louisiana.'' Eight Committee resolutions to authorize the remainder of GSA's FY06 Capital Investment and Leasing Program.

Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Environment and Public Works be authorized to hold a hearing on November 17, 2005 at 9:35 a.m. to evaluate the degree to which the preliminary findings on the failure of the levees are being incorporated into the restoration of hurricane protection.

Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs be authorized to meet on Thursday, November 17, 2005, at 10 a.m. for a hearing titled, ``From Proposed to Final: Evaluating Regulations for the National Security Personnel System.''