House resolves dispute, authorizes intelligence bill

House Democrats on Friday pushed through a major bill authorizing programs and spending for U.S. intelligence agencies after dropping a provision that would have set criminal penalties for CIA interrogators and others who use cruel or inhuman methods to extract information from suspected terrorists.

The provision was inserted at the last minute into a manager's amendment to the fiscal 2010 intelligence authorization bill, resulting in an unexpectedly heated partisan battle on the House floor Thursday evening.

The clash forced Democratic leaders to pull the bill and return it to the House Rules Committee to strip the criminal penalties provision from the manager's amendment. But they already had given House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, and other GOP lawmakers plenty of time to attack Democrats for a "shameful" attempt to target "American intelligence officials for criminal prosecution."

Once stripped of the disputed provision, the House on Friday approved the manager's amendment, 246-166, and then passed the amended authorization bill, 235-168.

How the Democrats bungled what had been expected to be easy passage of the bill Thursday night remains unclear.

Some sources said House Rules Committee Chairwoman Louise Slaughter, D-N.Y., had inserted language criminal penalties language drafted by Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Wash., because she believes Congress should be on record against torture. But others said House Democratic leaders did not fully support it.

The Intelligence Committee expressed concern about adding the provision and did not agree to add it, but left it up to Rules to make the final decision, according to a senior Intelligence Committee aide.

But another Democratic source said Intelligence Committee aides were neutral about adding the language when it was raised at a meeting.

During Friday's floor debate, Democrats beat back a GOP procedural motion to alter the bill. Intelligence Committee ranking member Pete Hoekstra, R-Mich., offered a motion to recommit the bill, but it failed, 186-217.

The motion would have required the CIA inspector general to review whether any lawmakers who were briefed on the use of harsh interrogations ever objected to those techniques. The CIA would also have been required to issue a public report showing which lawmakers were briefed and whether harsh interrogations practices produced valuable intelligence.

Republicans believe such a report would counter claims made by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., last year that she was not told in 2002 that the CIA engaged in the near-drowning of suspected terrorists as an interrogation tactic.

The motion to recommit would have required the director of national intelligence to make a final decision on whether a terrorism suspect is entitled to Miranda rights. Republicans have criticized the Obama administration for giving Miranda warnings to a Nigerian accused of trying to blow up a plane over Detroit on Christmas.

Hoekstra noted that Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair was not consulted about reading the man his rights.

Intelligence Chairman Committee Silvestre Reyes, D-Texas, led opposition to the procedural motion. "What the minority really wants to take away is our ability to use the criminal justice system to go after suspected terrorists," he said.

The House on Friday also voted 410-1 to approve an amendment from Rep. Mark Schauer, D-Mich., requiring the administration to investigate the Christmas airline bombing attempt and report to Congress on measures that have been taken or will be taken to prevent future intelligence failures.

And by a 401-11 margin, the House passed an amendment from Rep. Alcee Hastings, D-Fla., that requires the administration to report to Congress on plans to increase diversity in the workforce of the intelligence agencies.