THIS IS NOT ->Delawareliberal

On Tuesday July 30, 1996 CNN carried the following story:

President Clinton urged Congress Tuesday to act swiftly in developing anti-terrorism legislation before its August recess. "We need to keep this country together right now. We need to focus on this terrorism issue," Clinton said during a White House news conference.

Clinton urged the GOP Congress to act - but the Republicans decided to play politics instead.

Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, emerged from the meeting and said, "These are very controversial provisions that the [Clinton] White House wants. Some they're not going to get." ....[Hatch] also said he had some problems with the president's proposals to expand wiretapping.

While Republicans blocked Clinton, some Democrats continued to work to get the GOP Congress to take terrorism seriously.

Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, D-South Dakota, said it is a mistake if Congress leaves town without addressing anti-terrorism legislation. Daschle is expected to hold a special meeting on the matter Wednesday with Congressional leaders.

That would have been Wednesday July 31st, 1996. I know Castle was in Washington on the 30th because he voted in favor of the Fiscal Year 1997 Department of Defense Appropriations on the 30th. He was back in DC by September 17th to work on the very pressing Dolley Madison Commemorative Coin Act AND the "Black Revolutionary War Patriots Commemorative Coin Act"

The question is, was Castle in this meeting with Tom Daschle on the 31st - or did he blow it off?

I'll keep working on finding an answer to that question but this much is clear. The GOP Congress and Michael Castle are a serious threats to our security. Castle and the GOP ignored terrorism until it became politically attractive to them. Instead the GOP played politics while Castle built his legacy out of commemorative coins.

Tomorrow Castle will claim that he is the best person to represent Delaware in Congress. It will also be the 10th anniversary of the day he could have actually done something in that body.