Posted on 10/31/2001 9:59:39 AM PST by brewcrew
Lawmakers in spotlight over bill on terrorism
Sensenbrenner, Feingold draw praise for roles
By CRAIG GILBERT of the Journal Sentinel staff
Sunday, October 14, 2001
Washington -- Amid last week's pressing debate over police powers and civil liberties, two Wisconsin lawmakers grabbed the stage.
Democrat Russ Feingold did it as a defiant dissident, casting the sole "no" vote Thursday against the Senate's anti-terrorism bill.
Republican Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. did it as a harried deal-maker, striving to reconcile different parties, different branches of government and different views of the proper balance between freedom and security.
"It is the hardest thing I have ever done in my years of elective service," said Sensenbrenner, who as Judiciary Committee chairman was a central figure in the furious tug-of-war over the counterterrorism bill passed by the House on Friday.
Of the two, Feingold's role in the debate was a more familiar one. He chairs the Senate's Constitution subcommittee, is active on civil liberties issues and has never been shy about voting alone, whether it's against the death penalty or pricey weapons systems.
Even before the vote, he single-handedly tied up the bill for a day until leaders agreed to let him offer amendments; his fairly narrow proposals were summarily killed. The measure's final tally: 96 for, 1 against.
Feingold's solo resistance drew an unusual tribute on the House floor Friday from a Republican critic of big government, Majority Leader Dick Armey of Texas, though he repeatedly called the Wisconsinite "Mr. Feinstein," the name of the female senator from California. (Disgusted Democrat Dave Obey of Wausau yelled out to Armey from the floor, "It's Fein-GOLD!")
Asked afterward what he thought he accomplished, Feingold said, "getting out to the public this is not some kind of mild piece of legislation that doesn't impact on civil liberties. We sounded the alert."
Rising above partisanship
Sensenbrenner's part was in some ways more surprising. He rose to Judiciary chairman this year, a pronounced conservative not known for silky diplomacy.
But in concert with the panel's top Democrat, Michigan's John Conyers, Sensenbrenner had scaled back the expanded police and surveillance powers sought by the Bush administration. The committee, perhaps the most politically polarized in Congress, amazed observers -- and its own membership -- by passing a compromise measure with unanimity.
"For Bob Barr and Jim Sensenbrenner to come together with Barney Frank and John Conyers is miraculous," said Obey, referring to the panel's panoramic right-to-left sweep. "It's evidence there is a God."
Said Sensenbrenner: "I guess Mr. Conyers and I, who have a reputation for being ideologues on occasion, realized, with our country being attacked, it was time to rise above partisanship."
Sensenbrenner not only won praise from House Democrats, but he provided another unexpected result. He ended up with a bill that was far more warmly received by civil libertarians than the one drafted in the Democratic Senate.
Put another way, Sensenbrenner gave the GOP administration much less of what it wanted than Senate Democrats did. He was also blunt about it, calling Attorney General John Ashcroft's proposal for new search and surveillance authority a "law enforcement wish list" that the Senate "rubber-stamped."
Feingold, speaking Friday to the Associated Press Managing Editors convention in Milwaukee, said he was proud of Sensenbrenner for the way he handled the bill in the Judiciary Committee and noted that the two of them had rarely agreed in the past.
While the Senate bypassed its normal procedures, Feingold said, Sensenbrenner's committee devoted time to the bill. Feingold also said he was impressed that a number of House leaders came to the Senate floor in a show of support for the effort to slow down action on the bill.
In an interview Friday, Sensenbrenner said it was his priority as chairman to recruit Democrats where possible. He pointed to the Bush faith-based initiative earlier this year, which Sensenbrenner pared back in response to constitutional objections.
"I could have accepted whatever came from the administration and jammed it," he said of both bills. "I like to try to broaden the base."
Sensenbrenner also viewed the Ashcroft plan as a bit of a grab. "I've always had a healthy suspicion of granting the police too much power," he said.
Deal behind closed doors
That suspicion was shared by liberal and conservative members of the Judiciary Committee. But many of those lawmakers were outraged Friday after closed negotiations involving Sensenbrenner, GOP leaders and the White House led to an abrupt shelving of the panel's laborious compromise.
"The attorney general was very unhappy with the committee bill," said Sensenbrenner, who said Ashcroft was "on our back from the Sunday after the terrorist strike to the present to get this job done."
In Sensenbrenner's view, Ashcroft's hostility to the Judiciary plan was "misplaced." In a conversation with a reporter Thursday afternoon, Sensenbrenner sounded like a very frustrated man. He described his dealings with the Justice Department as "extremely strained" and himself as "harassed."
In the agreement reached behind closed doors hours later, Sensenbrenner was forced to accept a package much closer to the Senate bill than what his committee had crafted. He won a few concessions -- some of the new police powers would lapse after five years -- but the new proposal alarmed civil liberties groups.
As galled as many House Democrats were over the "backroom deal," few seemed to blame Sensenbrenner. His handling of the committee had bought him good will. Liberal members from Madison's Tammy Baldwin to Bill Delahunt of Massachusetts to Maxine Waters of California all had nice things to say about the Menomonee Falls Republican. Baldwin called his handling of a delicate issue and headstrong committee "masterful."
Instead, Democrats blamed GOP leaders and the White House. In some cases, they also accused the Senate of hasty action on a plan with too few "safeguards" on law enforcement, placing heavy pressure on the House to follow.
While they are far from soul mates, Feingold viewed Sensenbrenner as an ally in the debate.
"Jim Sensenbrenner is not the problem," Obey said. "He doesn't want this to happen. He was overruled."
Barney Frank's comments were typical. "I don't really blame him," the Massachusetts Democrat said. "Once the Senate went, he was under enormous pressure. He tried to make it better."
Conyers said he was satisfied with Sensenbrenner's chairmanship. "We've been working very closely right from the day he took over," he said.
Sensenbrenner said if Democratic critics of the bill want to blame somebody, "the person they really ought to be blaming is their own majority leader in the Senate," a reference to South Dakota's Tom Daschle.
Since the two chambers have now passed somewhat different measures, it will take a final round of negotiations to reconcile them, probably this week.
In Friday's interview, Sensenbrenner contended neither the process nor the bill was of his choosing. "Process is determined by leadership," he said. He also defended the plan that passed the House in a lopsided vote, calling it "not perfect but acceptable."
Asked to describe his role in the debate, he said, "Blessed be the peacemaker, for he shall catch it from both sides."
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Tom Held of the Journal Sentinel staff in Milwaukee contributed to this report.
THE TWO BILLS
Highlights of the anti-terrorism bill passed by the Senate:
-- Increases penalties for committing terrorism.
-- Increases penalties for harboring or funding terrorists or terrorist organizations.
-- Makes terrorism a reason for federal officials to get a wiretapping order.
-- Allows federal officials to get a wiretapping order that would follow a suspect to any phone the person uses.
-- Allows federal officials to get nationwide search warrants for terrorism investigations.
-- Allows the attorney general to detain foreigners suspected of terrorism. The attorney general then has to start deportation proceedings, during which the foreigner must stay in federal custody, or charge the person with a crime. If neither is done within seven days, the foreigner must be released.
-- Makes committing an act of terrorism against a mass transit system a federal crime.
-- Makes illegal the possession of substances that can be used as biological or chemical weapons for any purpose besides a "peaceful" purpose.
-- Includes money-laundering legislation that would fight international money laundering in an effort to thwart the financing of terrorism and protect the U.S. banking system from illicit money.
-- Authorizes nationwide search warrants for computer information in terrorism investigations, including billing records.
Highlights of changes proposed by the House:
-- Adds a Dec. 31, 2004, expiration date for wiretapping and surveillance changes; gives president the option to extend the laws until Dec. 31, 2006.
-- Deletes money-laundering segment.
-- Adds a provision that allows people to sue if the government leaks information gained through the new wiretapping and surveillance powers.
-- Deletes a provision that would have eliminated the requirement that federal prosecutors follow ethics laws of the state they're in.
Associated Press
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