FOXNews.com - Politics - House GOP Sees Political Plus to 9/11 Action
"WASHINGTON — House Republican leaders radically altered their original "go slow" playbook on the Sept. 11 commission recommendations, reversing themselves after reading the report closely and finding a variety of "law and order" issues they intend to use against Democrats during the fall campaign...........
A lot of members won't like it but they won't have a choice," a GOP leadership aide said. "The Democrats thought we'd stay where we were but we called their bluff. And when they come back and see the legislation they're not going to like it and they are going to pay."
Senior Republican aides devoted considerable time Friday to discussing the numerous immigration and airport security regulations in the commission report. Of the 41 recommendations, seven deal with border security.
The commission's report, the culmination of a 20-month investigation, portrayed the Sept. 11 terrorists as creative and determined while the nation they were preparing to strike was unprepared and uncomprehending of the imminent danger. Nearly 3,000 people were killed when 19 hijackers flew airliners into New York's Twin Towers, the Pentagon and the Pennsylvania countryside.
The commission recommended a unified border and transportation database; creation of a biometric screening system that uses retina scans or fingerprints to verify identity; exchange of terror travel data with other nations; creation of a uniform federal standard for birth certificates and driver's licenses; beefed up "no fly" lists to prevent suspected terrorists from boarding flights; and an expansion of airport screening for explosives.
"We spent a lot of time on border security issues," a top GOP aide said.
The commission's call for "uniform federal standards for birth certificates and driver's licenses" is virtually a clarion call for a national identification card — something civil libertarians on the right and left have long fought.
"We have a lot of problems on our side on that but I think the political momentum may be unstoppable," a senior GOP aide said.
In the Senate, leaders from both parties joined together to urge the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee to introduce legislation by Oct. 1 addressing the commission's intelligence proposals.
"WASHINGTON — House Republican leaders radically altered their original "go slow" playbook on the Sept. 11 commission recommendations, reversing themselves after reading the report closely and finding a variety of "law and order" issues they intend to use against Democrats during the fall campaign...........
A lot of members won't like it but they won't have a choice," a GOP leadership aide said. "The Democrats thought we'd stay where we were but we called their bluff. And when they come back and see the legislation they're not going to like it and they are going to pay."
Senior Republican aides devoted considerable time Friday to discussing the numerous immigration and airport security regulations in the commission report. Of the 41 recommendations, seven deal with border security.
The commission's report, the culmination of a 20-month investigation, portrayed the Sept. 11 terrorists as creative and determined while the nation they were preparing to strike was unprepared and uncomprehending of the imminent danger. Nearly 3,000 people were killed when 19 hijackers flew airliners into New York's Twin Towers, the Pentagon and the Pennsylvania countryside.
The commission recommended a unified border and transportation database; creation of a biometric screening system that uses retina scans or fingerprints to verify identity; exchange of terror travel data with other nations; creation of a uniform federal standard for birth certificates and driver's licenses; beefed up "no fly" lists to prevent suspected terrorists from boarding flights; and an expansion of airport screening for explosives.
"We spent a lot of time on border security issues," a top GOP aide said.
The commission's call for "uniform federal standards for birth certificates and driver's licenses" is virtually a clarion call for a national identification card — something civil libertarians on the right and left have long fought.
"We have a lot of problems on our side on that but I think the political momentum may be unstoppable," a senior GOP aide said.
In the Senate, leaders from both parties joined together to urge the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee to introduce legislation by Oct. 1 addressing the commission's intelligence proposals.
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