House GOP quashes effort to bypass leadership's intelligence reform plan

Invoking jurisdictional concerns, House committee chairmen on Wednesday ruled out of order several attempts by bipartisan coalitions of lawmakers or Democrats to replace the House Republican leadership's intelligence overhaul proposals with bipartisan bills that paralleled the 9/11 Commission's recommendations.

House Government Reform Chairman Tom Davis, R-Va.; Financial Services Chairman Michael Oxley, R-Ohio; Transportation and Infrastructure Chairman Don Young, R-Alaska; and Judiciary Chairman James Sensenbrenner, R-Wisc., all cited jurisdictional concerns in rejecting the amendments offered in their committees.

"I really have no choice," said Davis.

But Rep. Christopher Shays, R-Conn., who tried to offer the bill he introduced with Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., incorporating the Commission's recommendations, said Davis' ruling confirmed the Commission's findings.

"The same, narrow, turf-conscious House rules the [9/11 Commission] unequivocally said must change prevent our consideration of the Commission's broader reorganization proposals," he said at the Government Reform markup.

At the Financial Services markup, Maloney said, "At the very least, we should support a clean, up-or-down vote on the Collins-Lieberman bill," referring to the Senate version of the Shays-Maloney bill introduced by Governmental Affairs Chairwoman Susan Collins, R-Maine, and ranking member Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn. Shays said the House GOP leadership bill reflects "a lack of deference, or even reference, to the Commission's recommendations."

Even before House committees began their markups of provisions of the GOP leadership's bill, House Democrats announced their intent to push for votes on the bipartisan Collins-Lieberman and Shays-Maloney bills because they said Republicans had denied them a role in the legislative process.

"On the single, most important issue to the country Democrats have been shut out," said House Democratic Caucus Chairman Robert Menendez of New Jersey.

"It appears we may not, at any level, get a chance to vote on" the 9/11 Commission's recommendations, said Financial Services ranking member Barney Frank, D-Mass., at today's House Financial Services Committee markup. "That is both substantively and procedurally wrong."

Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, D-Md., said GOP leaders made "no effort" to reach across party lines.

A few Republican committee chairmen are working this week with ranking Democrats on the panels marking up the House Republicans' bill, and the egislation includes certain bipartisan provisions. However, Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said Democrats would attempt to offer those amendments despite the realization that "they probably will not prevail." Pelosi said Democrats would follow the same strategy during House floor debate next week.

Menendez called on Republican leaders to craft a rule that would allow "open" and "full" debate.