Security still high on lawmakers’ agenda

Facing the five-year anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and mindful of the looming elections, House and Senate Republicans plan to tackle a myriad of homeland security issues this month, including debate on a major maritime security bill, public hearings with Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, authorizing the president's domestic wiretapping program and possibly pushing through more border security legislation.

Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Chairwoman Susan Collins, R-Maine, "is confident" the maritime security bill will go to the Senate floor this week, an aide said. The bill had been bottled up because it contains provisions that cut across jurisdictional lines overseen by Collins, Senate Commerce Chairman Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, and Senate Finance Chairman Charles Grassley, R-Iowa.

The bill originally authorized about $835 million a year for maritime security using existing Customs and Border Protection fees, including $400 million in port security grants.

Through negotiations over the last month, however, the funding levels in the bill were amended. The bill would still authorize $400 million in port security grants, but other spending levels were removed, such as funding for the department's Container Security Initiative and the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism, the aide said.

Appropriators would be responsible for setting the spending levels for those programs, the aide explained.

But on another homeland security front, aides were much less confident that major legislation dealing with chemical security regulation and a reorganization of the Federal Emergency Management Agency would move forward before the fall recess.

While it does not appear Congress will pass comprehensive immigration reform before the elections, House Republicans would like to push through border security provisions in the bill they approved earlier this year, a GOP aide said.

This aide suggested that members might add those provisions to the Homeland Security appropriations bill, which is in conference, or the Defense appropriations bill, which has yet to reach conference.

"I'd say it's possible that border security gets tacked onto one of them," the aide said. "You might see it piecemealed together."

The aide added another issue that is "pretty high up there" for Republicans is authorizing the president's domestic warrantless wiretapping program.

Chertoff is expected to appear for congressional hearings before the end of the month, giving Republicans and Democrats a chance to promote their agendas before the fall elections. The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee intends to hear from Chertoff Tuesday about his department's goals and priorities for the next five years. The House Homeland Security Committee is scheduled to hear from him Sept. 26, on a hearing on counterterrorism efforts since the Sept. 11 attacks.

A spate of other hearings are also planned for this month.

On Thursday, Senate Judiciary Terrorism Subcommittee Chairman Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., plans a hearing to examine actions the U.S. and foreign governments are taking to ensure that airline passengers are properly screened before boarding international flights to the United States.

Two House Homeland Security subcommittees will also have hearings Thursday -- one to examine the structure of the department's Science and Technology Directorate and another to examine department plans for supporting the work of so-called state and local fusion centers.

House Homeland Security subcommittees also plan hearings this month to examine the department's Safety Act and how people become terrorists. Another hearing will feature testimony from the police chiefs of London, Los Angeles and New York.