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SARAH MURPHY
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The White House delivered its much-awaited homeland legislation to Capitol Hill Tuesday, as lawmakers took steps of their own to shape the proposal into law.
The House is today expected to approve a resolution creating an ad hoc select committee to help steer the legislation through the chamber. Meanwhile, lawmakers in both the House and Senate are gearing up to question Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge when he testifies Thursday.
Ridge met with leaders from both houses of Congress Tuesday to deliver the 35-page draft bill, emphasizing the need for cooperation as Congress began to deal with the details of the proposed massive reorganization.
“The most important and I think the most historic partnership we need to forge … is the partnership between the executive branch and the legislative branch of government,” Ridge said. “As history has shown, when the Congress of the United States and the president of the United States unite, no challenge is too great, no cause is out of reach, no change is impossible, whether it’s winning a World War, the Cold War or the war on terrorism.”
Standing beside Ridge and other congressional leaders, Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) warned his colleagues not to get bogged down in jurisdictional disputes over which committees will review the bill and eventually have oversight of the new agency.
“During this procedure we’ll hear a lot about jurisdiction of committees and people talking about where they think the jurisdiction should lie in various committees,” he said. “The big picture is trying to make this land have a better defense against terrorism.”
Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) emphasized that bipartisan cooperation is needed to pass the bill expeditiously. But he advised the administration that Democrats will maintain strong oversight of the new department.
“Once we enact it into law, I think we all need to understand that this is the means to the end, not the end,” Daschle said. “This provides us with the tools to get the job done. It doesn’t do the job.”
While the House is expected to pass legislation creating an ad hoc select committee, it is unclear when Hastert and House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt (D-Mo.) will appoint members to the panel.
Hastert and Gephardt issued a statement last week that said the panel will be “charged with marking up the legislation,” and “drawing upon the recommendations submitted from the various standing committees.”
“We haven’t decided the numbers or the people,” Gephardt said Tuesday.
Senate leaders decided last week to use previously passed legislation written by Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.) as a basis for the president’s bill. The Senate Governmental Affairs Committee will conduct hearings on the bill before it heads to the floor.
On Tuesday, House Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-Texas), whom Hastert has said he will appoint as chairman of the select committee, outlined five principles he is asking the panel to “rally around” — “security first,” “new threat requires new solutions,” “community security,” “response time” and effective management.” Armey indicated that the House may not grapple with the reorganization until the House deals with the rules changes for the 108th Congress.
Armey also cast doubt on the idea of creating a permanent committee to handle homeland security in the 108th Congress, saying, “I don’t see that as necessary.”
When Ridge arrives back on Capitol Hill Thursday to testify before the Senate Governmental Affairs and House Government Reform committees, the panels’ members will grill him on the structure and jurisdiction of the proposed agency.
Sen. Fred Thompson (R-Tenn.), ranking member of the Governmental Affairs Committee, said the hearing will provide an opportunity to go through the bill’s fine print.
“It’s just a matter of rolling up our sleeves and going through the details of it, and especially addressing those agencies that have homeland security and non-homeland security functions,” he said. “What should be in, what should be out. A lot of it’s just going to be pretty dry, hard work. I think it’s going to take a while to go through it. But I’m looking forward to getting into the middle of it, and I think Tom’s testimony will allow us to do that.”
Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) said she too wants to ask Ridge about how the FBI and CIA would interface with the new department.
“I support the president’s plan but that is an unanswered question,” she said. “We’re creating this new department that’s going to have an intelligence piece to it, so I want to better understand the administration’s vision for linking all these pieces, because I don’t want there to be yet another entity with whom there’s poor communication.”
Sen. Robert Torricelli (D-N.J.) plans to question how the administration plan will guarantee that the new Cabinet position will have enough authority to be effective.
“Having the title has little meaning, if the person doesn’t actually have real authority,” Torricelli said. “And I think that is questionable because some important agencies of the government would be excluded.”
While all parties agree that the legislation must be completed by year’s end, its timetable for completion is still up in the air.
Gephardt reiterated his call for a Sept. 11 deadline Tuesday, many key House Republicans are backing away from the Sept. 11 — or any — date for completion.
House Republican Conference Chairman J.C. Watts (R-Okla.) called the Sept. 11 deadline for completion a “noble mission,” but overly optimistic.
“I think we need to go into it understanding it’s not going to happen in 30 to 35 days,” he said.
Armey agreed, saying, “Everybody is saying this is a fine objective and a good goal, but it’s more important to get it right than done on that date.”
House Transportation Committee Chairman Don Young (R-Alaska) asked, “Symbolic for what?” of the proposed deadline.
“I am not going to be panicked into doing something,” he added.
The enormous task of passing a bill to create a new federal agency before the year’s end has prompted speculation that leaders may cut into the August recess or conduct a lame-duck session to complete work on the president’s proposal.
“We don’t have to be out of here by Election Day,” said House Chief Deputy Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.).
Although the prospect of cutting into the August recess is viewed as unlikely, Republican and Democrat leaders are also not closing that door.
“That needs to continue to be an option,” Blunt said. “These are extraordinary challenges and extraordinary times.”
“I don’t know the answer to that,” said Gephardt, when asked if working through August is an option.
“You’ve got to work day and night,” he added. “It’s hard work.”
Others cast doubt lawmakers would alter the legislative calendar.
“I think we can get it done without going over into the August recess,” said Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.).
