Key House Dem optimistic about reaching deal on security bill
Negotiations could begin by the end of the week, with the goal of finishing the measure before the August recess.
Key House Democrats said Tuesday they believe House and Senate negotiators will be able to reach a conference agreement quickly on legislation to implement unfulfilled recommendations of the 9/11 Commission, even though several issues need to be resolved.
Homeland Security Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., acknowledged conferees face a compressed timeline because the August recess is approaching. Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., appointed House conferees Tuesday, more than six months after the legislation passed the chamber.
"We anticipate convening conferees before the end of the week," Thompson said. "The goal is to try to complete it before the summer recess ... Our process, based on the speaker's direction, is to move it, now that conferees have been appointed, as fast as possible."
In a briefing, Thompson indicated agreements have been reached on several key issues, such as how billions of dollars in homeland security grants will be doled out and mandates for the Homeland Security Department to ensure all cargo is scanned at foreign ports before being shipped to the United States.
The House bill, for example, would guarantee each state receive at least 0.25 percent of total funding under the state homeland security grant program. The rest would be distributed based on risk and threat assessments.
The Senate bill would guarantee each state at least 0.45 percent of state homeland security grants.
Thompson said conferees have agreed "in principle" to a formula higher than the House version but lower than the Senate version, indicating it will be set at 0.35 percent.
The House bill also had the strongest mandates for cargo security. It would require Homeland Security to ensure all cargo is scanned at small foreign ports within three years and at all ports within five years.
Thompson said the final bill will still include the mandates, but Homeland Security would be able to grant deadline extensions to ports if needed.
"That was part of the compromise," Thompson said. "The biggest issue is whether or not we can do it in the time specified; whether or not the technology exists to make it happen."
A Senate aide familiar with the negotiations countered that a final agreement on cargo security has not been reached.
Although Thompson and other House Democrats wanted to merge a rail and transit security bill to the 9/11 Commission bill, he conceded some provisions might not make the final bill.