9/11 panel vice chair seeks 'fourth quarter' rally on intel reform

The vice chairman of the 9/11 Commission Tuesday urged President Bush to become more engaged to save the intelligence overhaul bill that collapsed over the weekend.

"The president and the rest of us have to have a greater sense of urgency to get [the bill] restored," former Rep. Lee Hamilton, D-Ind., told CongressDaily. "His active involvement is very important."

Hamilton said he and 9/11 Commission Chairman Thomas Kean would hold a news conference next week to keep the heat on the White House and Congress to enact legislation before the end of the 108th Congress.

Many of the 10 commissioners plan public appearances and "additional steps" over the next couple of weeks to bring negotiators back to the table, Hamilton added. "We want to do what we can," he said. "We're in the waning moments of the fourth quarter here."

Hamilton said Bush has several options to push conferees to reach a deal in time to enact legislation in early December, when lawmakers would potentially return for a second lame duck session.

The president could call rank-and-file House Republicans who helped block the bill from a vote last Saturday and make "changes within his administration to make sure everybody is on board," Hamilton said, in an apparent reference to senior military chiefs and possibly top Pentagon officials who might have undermined White House support for a compromise bill.

White House officials have started outlining strategy to rescue the bill, with Bush declaring he would work to get a bill passed next month.

Vice President Dick Cheney met on Capitol Hill Monday with House Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., for a previously scheduled meeting that included a discussion of the chairman's objections to the conference bill. A House GOP aide added Tuesday that negotiations are expected to resume early next week.

Sensenbrenner and Armed Services Committee Chairman Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., dug in their heels Saturday against the conference committee's bill, providing three pages of provisions from the original House measure that Bush and House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., agreed to drop to obtain a conference agreement.

Several Republicans felt Bush and Hastert had given too much to Senate conferees and vowed to vote against it. Hastert opted against bringing the legislation to the floor, but said talks would continue and left the door open for Congress to return Dec. 6-7 to pass legislation.