Lawmakers rip idea of standing homeland security committee
They argue that the current Select Committee on Homeland Security should be allowed to go out of business.
Ask congressional committee chairmen whether they would be willing to give up some of their jurisdiction -- even in the cause of fighting terrorism -- and all their responses will be the same: No way!
That was the message Thursday when six House committee chairmen and three ranking members appeared before the Rules Technology and the House Subcommittee to discuss the possibility of creating a permanent committee on homeland security.
In fact, Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Don Young, R-Alaska, went so far as to say he would fight the idea with his "dying breath."
His sentiments were echoed by Intelligence Committee Chairman Porter Goss, R-Fla.; Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis.; Agriculture Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., and ranking member Charles Stenholm, D-Texas; Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Joe Barton, R-Texas, and ranking member John Dingell, D-Mich.; Small Business Chairman Don Manzullo, R-Ill.; and Transportation and Infrastructure ranking member James Oberstar, D-Minn.
Not surprisingly, the only witness who endorsed the idea during two days of hearings on the subject was Homeland Security Committee Chairman Christopher Cox, R-Calif., who heads the select committee that was created temporarily at the same time Congress established the new Homeland Security Department after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
The other committee chairmen said Cox's panel should lapse when its official mandate runs out. Cox's committee will make a formal recommendation to the House by Sept. 30.
If a permanent Homeland Security Committee is created, said Young, it should be limited to oversight and concentrate only on terrorism. He said he did not want the Cox panel to meddle in the responsibilities of his committee, particularly regarding the Coast Guard.
Young alleged that Cox's committee staff is already engaged in "a creeping attempt to create something that shouldn't be created."
If the Homeland Security Committee is abolished, Barton and Young both volunteered that their committees would gladly take primary responsibility for homeland security.
Manzullo did not ask for more responsibility over homeland security, but he said he wanted expanded jurisdiction over government purchasing from small contractors.