Intelligence bill clears House after GOP assault fails

House Democrats passed a bill early Friday to authorize intelligence programs and spending after withstanding a Republican assault on the measure's earmarks and other controversial provisions.

The fiscal 2008 intelligence authorization bill cleared the House on a 225-197 vote at 1:30 a.m., despite Republican objections that it contains wasteful provisions and gives short shrift to the nation's human intelligence capabilities. Republicans especially objected to an earmark included at the request of House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman John Murtha, D-Pa., which adds $23 million to the National Drug Intelligence Center, a Justice Department operation in his district.

Republicans charged that Murtha failed to submit his earmark in a timely way and certify that he or his spouse would not benefit financially from it. But Republicans lost a 241-181 vote in their bid to have the bill returned to the House Intelligence Committee, where they hoped the earmark would be stripped.

Democrats also defeated an amendment from House Intelligence ranking member Pete Hoekstra, R-Mich., to strike a provision requiring the intelligence community to do a formal analysis of the impact of global climate change on U.S. national security interests. Hoekstra's amendment was defeated 230-185.

Republicans tore into Democrats with criticism after the bill passed.

"This bill is a throwback to the '90s when intelligence operations were cut and intelligence resources were diverted to non-national security issues such as the environment," Hoekstra said in a statement. "The committee has not had one hearing, one briefing, one meeting or even a conversation in which global climate change was raised as an issue."

Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Fla., mocked the climate change provision by circulating a "Help Wanted" ad, saying: "U.S. intelligence community hiring weathermen. No military or spy experience necessary. Knowledge of polar bears a plus. Training videos include: 'Happy Feet,' 'Ice Age 2: The Meltdown,' and 'FernGully: The Last Rainforest.' "

Democrats hailed the legislation's passage as a landmark achievement, saying it is the largest intelligence authorization bill ever written by the Intelligence Committee. The total amount of authorized funding is classified but is estimated to be about $44 billion.

"This bill contains very robust funding for critical intelligence programs to penetrate the hard targets, such as terrorist networks and countries developing weapons of mass destruction capabilities," Intelligence Chairman Silvestre Reyes, D-Texas, said. He asserted that the assessment of global climate change will not divert resources from critical programs.

He also said proper House rules were followed for adding earmarks to the bill and explained the Government Printing Office "made an error in omitting the earmarks" from the committee report on the bill. Overall, the bill contains 26 unclassified earmarks totaling about $100 million. The bill now goes to the Senate.