Here is the complete speech Bush gave: http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2002/09/20020923-3.html
Here is the section that so offended Daschle:
But to make sure that we even do a better job, I asked the Congress to join me in setting up a Department of Homeland Security. Listen, I didn't run for -- my slogan wasn't, "vote for George, he wants government to be bigger." But I do want it to work. (Applause.) I do want to be able to say to the American people we've left behind -- I do want it to be said we worked together, Republicans and Democrats worked together to leave behind a strategy and the ability for future Presidents to more adequately secure the homeland.
And we're having a little problem in the Senate, see. The House passed a good bill, it allows me to move people any time, any place, anywhere in order to best deal with an enemy which isn't going to be bound by bureaucratic rules or handbooks or volumes of micromanagement -- that's not what they have to deal with. And I refuse to have future Presidents, or this President, deal with a Senate trying to tell me through micromanaging the process how best to secure the homeland.
I'll give you one example. On our borders we need to know who's coming into America. We need to know what they're bringing. (Applause.) We need to know if they're bringing something in the country, and we need to know if they're going to leave when they say they're going to leave. That's logical and that makes common sense. And, yet, on our borders, we've got three different departments dealing with our border security. We've got the INS and the Border Patrol and the Customs, all full of fine people, staffed by really great Americans, all working hard to make sure that border security is a part of the homeland security.
Except in cases now, they've got different uniforms, different cultures, different styles, perhaps different strategies. and for the sake of the country, I need to have the flexibility to meld those organizations together. I need to be able to say to the American people that we're working together. (Applause.) The Senate doesn't hear it, yet, but the Senate is going to hear from me if they don't pass a good bill as this. (Applause.)
And my message to the Senate is: you need to worry less about special interest in Washington and more about the security of the American people. (Applause.) But the best homeland security strategy is to hunt the killers down, one person at a time, and bring them to justice, which is what we're going to do. (Applause.)
Bush was talking about the Senate passing the Homeland Security bill in a timely fashion. And who sets the Senate schedule? Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle.
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This message was edited by AJinDC on 9-26-02 @ 1:22 PM