Senate panel moves up 9/11 intel hearing (to 7/30)

[papau]

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2004/07/27/senate_panel_moves_up_911_intel_hearing/

Senate panel moves up 9/11 intel hearing
July 27, 2004

WASHINGTON -- A Senate panel that planned to begin hearings next week on the intelligence overhaul recommended by the Sept. 11 commission will instead hold its first session this Friday.

Senate Governmental Affairs Committee spokeswoman Jen Burita said Tuesday the session was moved up to accommodate the schedules of the commission's two leaders, who will testify: Republican Thomas Kean, the former governor of New Jersey, and retired Rep. Lee Hamilton, D-Ind.

The Senate hearing is all but certain to be Congress' first on the commission report. Several other House and Senate committees are also planning hearings, underscoring the sense of urgency congressional leaders are trying to project at a time when lawmakers have just started a six-week recess.

Last Friday, committee Chairwoman Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and the panel's top Democrat, Sen. Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut, said they planned to begin their hearings next week.

Burita said this Friday was chosen "because it was the day we were able to get both co-chairmen together."<snip>



http://www.boston.com/news/politics/conventions/articles/2004/07/27/kerry_urges_fast_action_on_sept_11_commission_recommendations/

Kerry urges fast action on Sept. 11 commission recommendations
By Darlene Superville, Associated Press Writer | July 27, 2004

BOSTON -- Keeping national security at the front of the presidential campaign, John Kerry called Tuesday for extending the life of the Sept. 11 commission to help ensure that its recommendations are enacted as soon as possible. "The stakes are too high," he said.

Kerry, a decorated Vietnam veteran, surrounded himself with military veterans at a campaign stop in the Navy town of Norfolk, Va., as he makes his way north to Boston and the Democratic National Convention that will nominate him for president.<snip>

In Virginia, a Republican-leaning yet military heavy state that Kerry wants to win, the Massachusetts senator called for the Sept. 11 panel to continue working beyond its scheduled Aug. 26 end date to ensure its suggested reforms are put in place.

Kerry has endorsed all the recommendations the commission released last week, and has urged President Bush to act quickly on them. He said he would, on "the day I become president." Bush may act within days on some of the recommendations, a White House spokeswoman said Monday.<snip>