Coble votes no on 9-11 Bill

Washington, Dec 8 -

Saying his concerns about the immigration portion of the bill could not be alleviated, the chairman of the House Judiciary subcommittee that deals with terrorism and homeland security issues voted against legislation that is designed to reform the nation’s intelligence gathering organizations. U.S. Rep. Howard Coble (R-NC), the Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security voted against the bill.

“There was much good in this legislation,” Chairman Coble noted, “but the salient omission as far as I am concerned was the driver’s license standards. States would follow uniform national standards for what documents they accepted in issuing driver’s licenses and determining who was eligible to receive a license. But the bill, on which we voted, did not include a provision backed by our Judiciary Chairman Jim Sensenbrenner that would have prohibited states from giving driver’s licenses to illegal aliens. This omission is glaring as far as I am concerned.”

Chairman Coble said he was thinking about the terrorists who attacked the U.S. on September 11, 2001, when he voted against the bill. “If the terrorists had been deprived of those driver’s licenses,” Coble stated, “many of which were issued illegally, we may have avoided 9-11. The driver’s license provision is crucial indeed, and the main reason I voted against the bill.”

Congressman Coble said he would have preferred more negotiations before Congress attempted to pass the 9-11 Commission recommendations. “We should have been more deliberate,” Coble added, “more thorough, and we did not have to do this right now. Because of my concerns, I had to vote against the bill.” Chairman Coble’s subcommittee conducted a hearing in August on its portion of the 9-11 Commission recommendations.

From the North Carolina congressional delegation, joining Coble in voting no were Reps. Walter Jones, Sue Myrick and Charles Taylor.