Posted on 11/14/2002 5:36:22 AM PST by jerod
Decisive vote, 299-121, moves legislation closer to creating superagency; affirms Republican clout
Nov. 12 — Senate Democrats have struck a deal with Republicans to go forward with the new Department of Homeland Security. NBC's David Gregory reports.
MSNBC STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS WASHINGTON, Nov. 14 — In an early display of Republicans’ post-election muscle, a deal to create a Homeland Security Department was approved by the House on Wednesday night. The Senate is expected next week to similarly approve creation of the Cabinet-level office that would combine 22 agencies into one, a superagency sought by a president who came to office pledging to diminish the role of government in Americans’ lives. (Just a little editorializing by David Gregory, to put the news in context. GAG!)
‘Times have changed, and it’s imperative to the security of our country and the security of our families that our government change as well.’ — ROB PORTMAN Republican representative from Ohio THE 299-121 roll call — and a pair of favorable procedural votes in the Democratic-run Senate — signaled that lawmakers were ready to award a legislative triumph to a president whose hand was strengthened by Republican victories in last week’s congressional elections. “Times have changed, and it’s imperative to the security of our country and the security of our families that our government change as well,” said Rep. Rob Portman, R-Ohio.
DEMOCRATS OPPOSED
Opposition came mostly from Democrats arguing that the bill still lacked adequate job protections for the proposed new agency’s 170,000 workers. The bill is “just another example of the Bush administration’s union-busting policies,” said Rep. Corrine Brown, D-Fla. In the Senate, Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., predicted the bill would pass by next week. Underlining the shift in momentum, he said he might vote for it despite his own objections to its labor provisions. “It’s a lame duck. The president has said he wanted the bill,” Daschle said in explaining why a bill snagged in the Senate for two months was sailing toward enactment.
Among the agencies the bill would combine are the Coast Guard, the Customs Service, the Secret Service, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and much of the Immigration and Naturalization Service. In Wednesday’s initial roll calls, the Senate voted 89-8 to end procedural delays. Though opponents will have other chances to slow the bill, the one-sided vote signaled that senators realized it was now politically impossible to kill it. The Senate then voted 50-47 to kill a Democratic version of the bill that gave additional protections to workers.
‘SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT BUSINESS’
The passage was a victory for Bush, who on Tuesday said the creation of the agency was the “single most important business” before the lame-duck Congress.
Election aftermath
The idea of combining the government’s far-flung domestic security functions into a single agency was originally proposed last year by Sen. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., and other members of the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee as a response to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. The Bush administration initially opposed the plan, offering its own proposal last summer when congressional support for the concept became overwhelming. Democrats complained that Republicans stuffed provisions into the homeland security bill limiting liability for producers of the smallpox vaccine and makers of high technology airport screening equipment, as well as for many airport private security companies.
PROVISIONS FOR TEXAS
It also has vaguely worded language that would make Texas A&M University eligible for federal homeland security research — a provision inserted by Rep. Tom DeLay, R-Texas, whose district is nearby. DeLay is taking over as House majority leader, succeeding fellow Texan Dick Armey, who is retiring.
Sensing that last week’s election had turned the tide, three pivotal moderate senators accepted the new language and embraced the bill, ensuring it had the votes needed to break the stalemate. They are Sens. Lincoln Chafee, R-R.I.; John Breaux, D-La.; and Ben Nelson, D-Neb. Republicans say the voters punished Democrats on Election Day for taking the side of public employee unions and blocking the earlier version of the bill. Rep. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., who did not serve in the military, emphasized the issue in his successful campaign to oust Democratic Sen. Max Cleland, a Vietnam War triple amputee. And some Democrats worried that if the bill was not approved, it could hurt Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., in the runoff election she faces next month. Daschle said he believed Bush and the GOP played politics with the bill. “In my view, he didn’t want the bill before the election, with the expectation and hope they would use it for political purposes,” Daschle said. “They have.”
NEW LEADERSHIP
Meanwhile, Republicans, who retained control of the House while taking back the reins of the Senate in last week’s midterm elections, elected their leadership teams on Wednesday. Sen. Trent Lott of Mississippi will remain their leader when the new Senate convenes in January under GOP control. The Republicans also chose Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky as Lott’s deputy, the Senate whip, succeeding Don Nickles of Oklahoma, who is in line to become the next Budget Committee chairman.
House Republicans also chose their leaders Wednesday, with Dennis Hastert of Illinois retaining the position of speaker, which he has held since 1998, and DeLay, the majority leader. House and Senate Democrats are expected to elect their party leaders on Thursday. Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California is expected to be voted minority leader in the House, replacing Rep. Dick Gephardt of Missouri, who is stepping down. She is opposed by Rep. Harold Ford Jr. of Tennessee and a last-minute entrant, Rep. Marcy Kaptur of Ohio, neither of whom are given much chance of success.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
As for the editorial on 'superagency'....so-called journalists have never understood economics or management. There are such things as redundancy, diminishing returns, overlap and economies-of-scale operating here.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.