Panel casts partisan vote for homeland security department

A bill to create a Cabinet-level homeland security department cleared the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee on Wednesday on a 7-3 party-line vote.

The legislation (S. 2452), would incorporate several existing agencies into the new Department of National Homeland Security. Those agencies include the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Customs Service, the Coast Guard, the Critical Infrastructure Assurance Office, the FBI's National Infrastructure Protection Center, and the Immigration and Naturalization Service's border-patrol divisions.

The new department would be divided into three main sections overseeing border security, critical infrastructure issues and emergency-response efforts.

Committee Chairman Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., sponsored the bill. He said recent FBI warnings of potential terrorist threats against the Statue of Liberty and other high-profile targets "underscores the need for significant reforms" in information-sharing capabilities and other interagency security initiatives.

Lieberman lauded White House Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge's efforts but argued that without statutory clout, public accountability or budgetary authority over key agencies, Ridge is "not as effective as he needs to be."

But all Republicans on the committee opposed the legislation. Sen. Fred Thompson of Tennessee, the panel's ranking Republican, agreed that the administration needs a homeland security coordinator with statutory authority, who would be accountable to Congress. But he opposed the creation of a Cabinet-level department.

"No matter how many departments you try to include in this new agency, you are not going to be able to include all of the relevant agencies that are involved in homeland defense," Thompson said, adding that the new department would have to compete with agencies such as the CIA, the FBI and the Defense Department over jurisdictional issues and homeland security dollars.

Thompson urged the committee to withhold the legislation until Ridge releases his comprehensive national security strategy this summer. "It's very important that we have this comprehensive national strategy first, before we start reorganizing the government," Thompson said, adding that White House officials have told the committee they might be willing to give Ridge more authority and congressional accountability.

But Lieberman argued that the legislation is still necessary. "I do have the feeling from the White House that we're moving closer together," Lieberman said. "But I still think that if we move ahead with the bill, it will strengthen the forces for organization reform within the administration."