GOP leaders consider homeland security panel

House Republican leaders Tuesday appeared to be moving toward the creation of a select committee headed by House Majority Leader Dick Armey, R-Texas to consider President Bush's proposal for a new Homeland Security Department.

However, GOP leaders emerged from a Tuesday leadership meeting emphasizing that House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., has made no final decisions on how or exactly when to move on legislation that could involve the jurisdiction of more than a dozen House panels.

"The jurisdiction means a lot more in the House than in the Senate," a Hastert spokesman said. "We have 14 committees that will claim some sort of jurisdiction-so it's much more complicated in the House."

Multiple Republican sources said Armey was indeed Hastert's likely choice to lead a select committee because of his experience with jurisdictional issues and because his retirement at the end of this Congress would free him from internal Republican Conference politics.

One well-placed GOP source said Republican leaders were considering a select committee that would be small in number and only slightly weighted to Republicans. "It would probably be very skinny on the ratios," the source said, adding that the panel might have a 6-5 or 7-6 ratio of Republicans to Democrats.

Departing a leadership meeting Tuesday, Armey remained tight-lipped about what options Republican leaders were considering for moving the homeland security bill. "I'm going to wait until the speaker makes his announcement," Armey said.

House Republican Conference Chairman J.C. Watts of Oklahoma said that GOP leaders have talked about various options. Watts, who has previously proposed a separate standing committee to look at security issues, said the idea of a select panel has the most support-but Hastert has yet to make a number of decisions.

"No decisions were made on what the format would be and who would chair what," Watts said. "I expect we will put that together pretty quickly. We want to move it but we want to move it the right way."

House leaders will have plenty of opportunities to revisit the question-since the issue is likely to surface at the regular GOP and Democratic caucus meetings Wednesday.

Office of Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge is tentatively slated to brief House Democrats and Republicans in a closed briefing on the House floor Wednesday afternoon.

Speaking Tuesday before a rally of family members of victims of the Sept. 11 attacks, House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt, D-Mo., renewed his call for Congress to implement homeland security legislation by the one-year anniversary of the terrorist attacks "as a tribute to the people who gave their lives on that day."

A spokeswoman said Gephardt had a conversation with Hastert late last week in which Hastert raised the idea of a select committee, but said Republicans have not put anything on the table since. "He just wants to get it done," the Gephardt spokeswoman said. "We're open to looking at anything."