WASHINGTON, Sept. 12, 2001(CBS) Congress reconvened Wednesday in a reopened and fortified U.S. Capitol, vowing to retaliate against the worst attack ever on American soil.
AP Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle and House Speaker Dennis Hastert on Capitol steps Tuesday night.
One by one, lawmakers stood in the Senate and House of Representatives to declare the United States will do whatever it takes to identify and punish those responsible, as well as determine why U.S. security was breached and how intelligence-gathering agencies can be strengthened.
"These attacks were an assault on our people and our freedom," declared Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, a South Dakota Democrat.
"We must confront these acts and find a way to come together and make sure that this kind of heinous, vicious action will not happen again in America," said Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott, a Mississippi Republican.
Continuing to show unity in this time of crisis. Congressional leaders from both parties also met with President Bush at the White House.
Congress returned to session 24 hours after lawmakers fled the Capitol building with the possibility air assaults in New York City and at the Pentagon by hijacked airliners would be repeated at their marble landmark.
Both the House and Senate took up a resolution condemning terrorism and expressing solidarity with the president in his determination to "punish the perpetrators of these attacks, as well as their sponsors."
Joint Resolution
Congress proposed a joint resolution Wednesday after the terror attacks in New York and Washington.
House Majority Leader Richard Armey, a Texas Republican, said the world "will have no doubt about who we are and what we will stand for, and what we will not stand for."
Senate Majority Whip Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat, said the United States should establish a domestic anti-terrorism czar to help beef up and coordinate the battle.
"The successful fight against terrorism is one that will require the highest level of diplomatic skill and gathering intelligence as well as the most effective use of our economic and military strength," Reid said.
Members vowed to improve U.S. intelligence gathering operations that failed to warn of the assaults and move to provide money to help clean up the horrific damage, which included the annihilation of New York's World Trade Center and heavy damage to the Pentagon outside Washington in Virginia.
Sen. John McCain, an Arizona Republican, said the United States has a message for those responsible for Tuesday's assaults: "We are coming after you. God may have mercy on you, but we won't."
Lawmakers also voiced strong support for pouring more money into defense, sweeping aside their bickering over shrinking budget surpluses.
A number of Democrats and Republicans said protecting Social Security surpluses must take a back seat to protecting the nation's security, and predicted federal spending will swell even though it will tap the pension fund's surpluses.
Most also predicted that Congress will quickly approve President Bush's call to spend $20 billion in immediate emergency funds to help a shaken nation rebuild from terrorist assaults and prevent future attacks.
"This changes everything. The top priority is to defend this country," Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad, a North Dakota Democrat, told reporters.
Conrad said safeguarding Social Security was "an important issue that won't go away," but he said it was no longer the most pressing need.
"It is going to be the equivalent of a war on terrorism, which is going to cost a lot of money," said Pete Domenici of New Mexico, senior Senate Budget Committee Republican. "I don't think anyone is going to be arguing about the source of this money."
On Tuesday night, scores of legislators, Republicans and Democrats, gathered on the steps of the Capitol building to demonstrate their resolve and, in an unscripted show of unity, sang "God Bless America."
Many lawmakers also ripped into the Central Intelligence Agency and the FBI for failing to prevent the attacks.
"I think the bottom line is that we were basically caught flat-footed, and we lost a lot of people," Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama, ranking Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said after talking with CIA Director George Tenet.
"This is a wake-up call for America," said Shelby.
Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, a California Republican, called it "a day of disgrace" and said intelligence officials should be fired. "We need to sweep those people clean," he said.
Shortly after the suicide attacks at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, the entire Capitol building was evacuated for the first time ever as a precautionary move, police said.
Security was beefed up Wednesday as uniformed police cordoned off a block around the Capitol building, allowing in only vehicles bearing required congressional credentials.
The attacks were certain to change the thinking on Capitol Hill, prompting more spending to combat terrorism and perhaps less concern about possibly dipping into the Social Security surplus to fund this or other efforts.
Mr. Bush had said he would not reach into the Social Security surplus unless there was a recession or a war. And lawmakers said Wednesday they now consider the United States at war.
"Make no mistake, this was an act of war against the United States, and all of our people, and we will not be divided," said House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt, D-Mo.
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