(Bush want freedom to fire government employees)
Excerpt:
With the stern granite faces of four presidents gazing down from the Mount Rushmore monument, Bush suggested the Senate was placing dangerous limits on his ability to protect the nation through the planned 170,000-strong agency whose creation he proposed after the Sept. 11 attacks.
"I need the flexibility to be able to look at the American people and say we're doing everything we can to protect the homeland against an enemy that hates us," Bush said forcefully to an audience that included Daschle.
Daschle, who stood listening with his hands folded in front of him as Bush spoke, later accused the president of seeking "dictatorial powers," particularly in the freedom to fire government employees and the right to move money around the government without congressional approval.
< snip >
In his speech, Bush said the Senate's homeland security bill would take away an authority held by every president since Jimmy Carter to exempt agencies from collective bargaining requirements if this were in the national security interest.
He also said it would impose bureaucratic rules that would slow down hiring people for the new department, would make it difficult to reward them with bonuses for good work and prevent the government from moving money around to fight new threats.
While saying Congress was making some progress on the legislation, Bush said: "I'm a little worried about some of the noise I hear. I don't want our hands tied so we cannot do the number one job you expect, which is to protect the homeland."
Please let me know if you want ON or OFF my General Interest ping list!. . .don't be shy. 
