9 / 11 Families Push for Reform in D.C.

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Sept. 11 families spent the week pleading, screaming, and in some instances weeping for Congress to pass intelligence reforms needed to prevent another such attack, but election year politics put some of them on different sides of the debate.

Several groups of families have trooped the hallways of Congress in the past two weeks, their ranks growing as lawmakers get closer to passing legislation that would create a new national intelligence director.

The most prominent family groups, like the Family Steering Committee, are working to pressure House members to support the Senate reform legislation. They criticized a bill offered Thursday by House Republicans, saying it had too many amendments unrelated to reforms recommended by the 9/11 commission.

``These last 1,000 days plus have been sacred days,'' said Donald Goodrich of Bennington, Vt., who lost his son Pete Goodrich on Flight 175, the second plane to crash into a World Trade Center tower. ``This is a time for Republicans and Democrats to talk to each other.''Some family members, however, support the House bill and oppose the Senate version, citing what they consider overriding problems with border security and immigration, which the House bill addresses.

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