*EPF505 06/07/2002
Legislators Express Broad Support for Homeland Security Department
(Bush pushed proposal in meeting with key members of Congress) (910)

By Ralph Dannheisser
Washington File Congressional Correspondent

Washington -- Members of Congress expressed eagerness to work with President Bush on his proposal to create a Department of Homeland Security to coordinate antiterrorism efforts -- a step that many of them have urged for months even as the president resisted it.

But Bush and leading legislators agreed that the proposal is sure to run into opposition, both from officials eager to preserve their own domains in a large number of existing agencies whose functions would be taken over by the proposed new department, and from members of congressional committees with jurisdiction over those agencies.

Bush stressed this point in a speech in Des Moines, Iowa June 7 -- the day after he unveiled his far-reaching reorganization plan in a televised address. The new department could take over some 169,000 employees and a $37,400 million annual budget now spread among the existing agencies it would supplant.

"This is going to be a tough battle, because we're going to be stepping on some people's toes. I understand that. You see, when you take power away from one person in Washington, it tends to make them nervous," he said.

Senator Joseph Lieberman (Democrat, Connecticut), who has been urging creation of a Cabinet-level homeland security department for months, made the same point in a statement in which he called on members of Congress to unite behind the proposal.

"We're not kidding ourselves, there's going to be some opposition, and it probably will be bureaucratic turf protection," said Lieberman, chairman of the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee. "There'll be a lot of arguments about why we ought not to do this."

Bush called a bipartisan group of nearly a dozen legislators to the White House earlier June 7 to discuss the proposal for consolidating security functions in one department.

He said he would send his Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge to Capitol Hill to promote the consolidation plan. Until now, Bush has rejected repeated demands to make Ridge available for Hill testimony, arguing that this would compromise his status as an advisor to the president.

Ridge stressed after the meeting that Bush had directed him to testify only in support of creating the new department. "The testimony on the Hill will not be as an adviser and there will not be any discussion relevant to (my) advice and counsel" to the president, Ridge said.

Many in Congress have cited Bush's desire to keep Ridge as an informal adviser and shield him from having to testify before Congress -- as cabinet officials must do -- as one reason for his resistance, till now, to creation of a new cabinet department.

Formal congressional consideration of the reorganization proposal will begin swiftly. The House Government Reform Committee has scheduled a hearing for June 11. Senate Governmental Affairs has already passed a bill on the issue, but also plans to hold further hearings. The committee bill, sponsored by Lieberman, was approved May 22 by a party line vote of 9-7.

A spokesman for Senate Minority (Republican) Leader Trent Lott of Mississippi said June 7 that Lott expects the legislative process to take as long as three months, with a secretary of homeland security not taking office until January.

In an interview on CNN television, Lott anticipated the proposal would create "a problem in Congress...We may even have to look at restructuring some committees." But, Lott said, "My answer to that is, 'So what?'"

House Majority (Republican) Leader Richard Armey of Texas said only that leaders would like to have the legislation in place before Congress adjourns toward year's end.

Senate Majority (Democratic) Leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota deemed the proposal for a cabinet department to coordinate anti-terror efforts overdue, but said some changes would be needed.

Other key members of Congress also voiced support for the president's proposal. Representative Jane Harman (Democrat, California) termed it bold and courageous. "No one has a corner on wisdom, but I think putting these functions together in one place will help us succeed in the war on terrorism," Harman, the senior Democrat on the Intelligence Committee's Subcommittee on Terrorism and Homeland Security, told reporters.

Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Bob Graham (Democrat, Florida), said establishment of the integrated department is vital in order to bring together a variety of intelligence information that "never got before one set of human eyes."

Moreover, Graham said, "It's important to have an agency that is devoted to homeland security and doesn't have to go around begging people to get dollars, powers and people to get the job done."

Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, senior Republican on the Governmental Affairs Committee, said it is his sense that "there is an awareness that this is such an important issue that we're going to get it done and we're going to get it done very promptly."

And House Minority (Democratic) Leader Richard Gephardt of Missouri said, "We really need a tough new bipartisan homeland defense plan that we can implement to try to deal with the new world that we live in, with all the threats that are aimed at the United States."

A dissenting note was struck by Representative John Dingell (Democrat, Michigan) the senior member of the House, with 47 years of service. "You'll see a wonderful opportunity for more bureaucracy, more titles, more fancy offices and more squabbling within the administration," Dingell said.

(The Washington File is a product of the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)

Return to Public File Main Page

Return to Public Table of Contents