House GOP leaders optimistic on passage of homeland security package

Senior House Republicans held out hope Wednesday that their counterparts in the Senate would pass a package of border security bills before breaking for the fall elections but acknowledged that time is running out.

House leaders are scrambling to pass piecemeal border security bills before the end of next week, when both chambers are expected to recess for the November elections. House Majority Whip Roy Blunt, R-Mo., said Wednesday that three bills will be brought to the floor Thursday.

The bills together would extend the time the Homeland Security Department can detain illegal aliens, clarify that state and local law enforcement officials can enforce immigration laws, overturn a court injunction that prevents the deportation of illegal aliens from El Salvador, and establish penalties for building tunnels beneath U.S. borders.

House Rules Chairman David Dreier, R-Calif., indicated that the strategy for enacting the House Republican package remains focused on sending bills to the Senate and then pressing for their passage instead of trying to attach them to high-priority bipartisan legislation, such as the fiscal 2007 defense authorization conference report.

"We're in a position where we have pursued in the Senate these very important measures that have enjoyed strong support in the House, most of them enjoying bipartisan support," Dreier said. "And we're going to try our [best] to get as many of them passed through both houses as we possibly can."

Dreier said he was encouraged that the Senate is taking up the bill passed by the House last week that calls for more fencing along the Mexican border.

"There is no evidence whatsoever -- no evidence whatsoever -- of a Mexican terrorist," Dreier added. "It's important to underscore that time and time again, and to underscore the fact that we all know that we are a nation of immigrants. But the fact of the matter is, with porous borders, the threat of a terrorist coming in and undermining our way of life is one that we live with constantly."

But House leaders acknowledge that their window of opportunity is closing for moving legislation before the break, especially because they want to pass fiscal 2007 Defense and Homeland Security appropriations bills, as well as bills authorizing warrantless domestic wiretapping and military tribunals to prosecute suspected terrorists.

Dreier noted that the prospects are not good for passing a bill requiring workers in the country to have tamper-proof Social Security cards.

"I doubt that we are going to, in the next two weeks, be able to pass this," he said. "But I will say that we are building strong bipartisan support for it, and I think at the end of the day this is going to be really a focal point of the package that we put together I hope before the end of this calendar year."