No intel deal in sight, but negotiators remain optimistic
Leading House and Senate conferees on intelligence overhaul legislation Friday continued to express hope they can overcome the current impasse and agree on a final bill in time for next month's lame duck session.
But if they cannot reach a compromise, Senate Governmental Affairs Chairwoman Susan Collins, R-Maine, said she is "pessimistic" about the prospects for enacting sweeping intelligence reforms if lawmakers "have to start all over" in the 109th Congress.
House Intelligence Chairman Pete Hoekstra, R-Mich., said talks were continuing and his Republican colleagues planned to send a second House proposal to the Senate this afternoon. "The four of us are committed to do whatever we can to try to make this bill a reality," he said during a conference call with House Intelligence ranking member Jane Harman, D-Calif., and Senate Governmental Affairs ranking member Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn.
Hoekstra, who is chairing the negotiations, said the latest proposal would include recent suggestions from the Pentagon and others on the creation of a national intelligence director, but did not give details on language governing the director's budgetary authority.
Talks have been stalled over the 9/11 Commission's recommendation for a more centralized budget authority, an idea largely backed by the Senate. House Republicans say they have conceded to give the director the authority to "determine" the national intelligence budget for the Pentagon's intelligence agencies, but believe the Pentagon should still sign off on funding levels to protect intelligence assets for the military. But Senate conferees also have pressed for an agreement that funding should be channeled directly from the NID to the defense agencies to prevent the Defense secretary from redirecting money to other areas.
On other provisions in the House's original bill, Hoekstra said Judiciary Chairman James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., had agreed that the latest proposal drop a provision on the death penalty and language expanding law enforcement's ability to expeditiously deport illegal immigrants.
The new House proposal also deals with caps on immigrants claiming asylum, strengthens language calling for a civil liberties board and moves closer to the Senate's version on a national counter terrorism center, Hoekstra said.
Philip Zelikow, the 9/11 Commission's executive director whose recent e-mail to conference aides appearing to support the House position contributed to the current stalemate, said there was still much more work to do. Speaking with CongressDaily Thursday, Zelikow also agreed with congressional critics who say House Armed Services Chairman Hunter has blocked both sides from a settling the budget authority issue. "But there are others" in the House as well, he said. While the Senate was working "behind the scenes" to make concessions, he said, more resolve is needed on both sides.