WASHINGTON, March 11 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- House Republican Whip Roy Blunt (Mo.) issued the following statement today after the House of Representatives voted to sustain President Bush's veto of an ill-conceived intelligence bill that focused more on the study of global warming than the surveillance of foreign terrorists:
"The president did the right thing by rejecting this poorly conceived legislation, and this evening the House concurred with this assessment. For Democrats who believe that today's vote was the product of a single defect in the bill, they're right: The legislation failed to meet even the most basic security needs of our nation.
"For a bill that was ostensibly intended to give our intelligence community the authority and resources it needs to operate, Democrats again failed to adequately fund the needs of our intelligence officers and their intelligence collection efforts. In its place, though, the majority does divert intelligence spending to study the man-made effects of global warming.
"This majority has made clear where their priorities lie -- and it isn't with the millions of Americans demanding of their government a secure homeland. The time spent on this preordained veto override could have been used to pass a FISA bill that can become law tonight if the Speaker just let us have a vote."
SOURCE House Republican Whip Roy Blunt
