Cabinet secretaries pressure Senate on homeland bill
Fourteen Cabinet members have sent Senate leaders a letter pressuring them to accept President Bush's terms on labor provisions at the proposed Homeland Security Department, saying that other agencies already possess the powers Bush is requesting.
The White House Tuesday sought to intensify pressure on Senate Democrats to accept President Bush's terms on controversial labor provisions of legislation creating the new department, releasing a letter from 14 Cabinet members to Senate leaders asserting that other Cabinet agencies already possess the management powers Bush is requesting.
"At this challenging time, we believe that the president's existing, government-wide authority to exclude unions from certain agencies in the interests of our national security should be preserved for this new department," stated the letter, which is dated Oct. 15 and was sent to Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., and Minority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss.
"In proposals under consideration in the Senate, the president could not exercise his long-standing authority unless he can first satisfy two new, burdensome standards that do not apply to any other department."
Speaking to reporters at the White House, Homeland Security Office Director Tom Ridge called on Congress to "work this week or next week or however long it takes" to pass a bill, demanding progress soon. But he nevertheless acknowledged that the administration might have to accept Congress finishing up during a post-election session.
"We need a measure that the president will sign on his desk by the end of the year," he said. "I still think it can be done." He said talks were continuing with Sen. John Breaux, D-La., and other senators attempting to forge a compromise on the issues.
Daschle Tuesday blasted GOP candidates for using Democratic votes on the homeland bill for political gain.
Citing a new campaign launched by Republican Rep. Saxby Chambliss of Georgia against Democratic Sen. Max Cleland, Daschle said the GOP's tactic was "mean and extraordinarily unfair." He added: "It's an egregious attack on an American hero ... I am amazed that Mr. Chambliss would stoop to that level."
Daschle's comments came after Chambliss' charge that Cleland, a disabled Vietnam veteran, is helping to block the creation of a Homeland Security Department by not reaching a compromise with the White House on personnel rules for the new department. Republican campaigns in South Carolina and South Dakota have also picked up on that theme.
Daschle said the "politicization" of the issue proves that Republicans "didn't want homeland security in the first place ... Republicans have chosen to politicize it rather than resolve it."