White House blasts homeland compromise; Senate deadlocked

Stung by a deal that could doom the Homeland Security Department legislation it backs, the White House Wednesday launched a bitter attack on the compromise agreed upon Tuesday by Sens. John Breaux, D-La., Ben Nelson, D-Neb., and Lincoln Chafee, R-R.I., threatening to veto the bill creating a Homeland Security Department if it includes the deal.

The compromise appears to have just enough votes to prevail over a White House-backed proposal by Sens. Zell Miller, D-Ga., and Phil Gramm, R-Texas.

"Under the so-called Breaux-Nelson-Chafee compromise, the president would have less national security authority in the Department of Homeland Security than he has in every other department and agency of the federal government today," charged White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer.

Fleischer described that amendment as the result of longstanding government employee union efforts to roll back the president's standing authority "to exclude certain offices from collective bargaining for reasons of national security," saying that under Breaux-Nelson-Chafee, "this discretion would be stripped away from the president."

Fleischer zeroed in on provisions restricting the exercise of such authority against workers whose primary task is not fighting terrorism, saying the president needs "flexibility" to apply the authority to these workers should unforeseen threats ultimately involve them.

Fleischer also criticized provisions that he said required a written agreement between unions and the department management to make personnel changes.

"This is akin to requiring a second collective bargaining agreement to be entered into, which would significantly slow down any major reorganization," he said.

Meanwhile, Senate Democrats again failed Wednesday to invoke cloture on the homeland security legislation, a move that adds to the uncertainty surrounding the bill as senators begin debate on the contentious labor rules that will apply to the new agency.

In a 49-49 party-line vote, senators rejected a second attempt by Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D. to move to a final vote on the bill.

Senate Republicans were weighing their options after Chafee's move gave Democrats a slim 51-49 advantage on the labor issue. Gramm said Tuesday that if Democrats "deny the president the chance to have his vote, than obviously a lot of clock is going to run." However, Gramm stopped short of saying he would filibuster the legislation.

Also Wednesday, the House Republican leaders who drafted the House version of the bill sent a four- page letter to Daschle detailing eight major flaws in the Senate legislation.