Senate debate over homeland security bill heats up

In an ominous sign for homeland security legislation, the Senate's senior Democrat accused President Bush Tuesday of undermining the Constitution's most fundamental doctrines, while a senior Republican blasted Democratic delaying tactics and urged Bush to play hardball on the issue.

In a harangue on the Senate floor that ended in a rare round of applause, Appropriations Chairman Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., said the Bush administration's proposal to create the Homeland Security Department guts the system of checks and balances by giving the department's secretary the authority to spend money and reorganize without congressional advice.

While administration officials have said the proposed department needs managerial flexibility to combat terrorists, Byrd said although al Qaeda "may not be encumbered by constitutional limitations on its powers … I would scarcely argue that al Qaeda sets an example for this government to follow." Byrd, who is considered to be the fiercest defender of congressional prerogatives, continued, "This administration shows little appreciation for the constitutional doctrines and processes that have preserved those freedoms for more than two centuries."

Byrd urged the Senate to put the brakes on the legislation in order to fully digest its impact. "If ever there was a need for the Senate to throw a bucket of cold water on an overheated legislative process that is spinning out of control, it is now," he said.

Other senators also believe Congress is moving too quickly on the legislation, Byrd said. "We're all talking about this in the privacy of our offices, behind the closed doors of elevators and in our hideaways … We are rushing ahead to pass legislation, which many of us think is bad policy," he added. Byrd also took aim at Bush's claim that the department would not cost any more money, saying: "That sounds like a neat trick … This massive governmental reorganization is going to be costly. It is going to require the investment of real money. It cannot be done with the kind of creative accounting gimmicks you might expect to find at Halliburton Co. and Harken Energy Corp."

Separately, Senate Banking ranking member Phil Gramm, R-Texas, urged Bush to send a message to Senate Democrats by refusing to compromise on the homeland proposal, particularly on personnel issues. "I think the Democrats deserve a good blow upside the head on this issue," Gramm told National Journal in an interview Monday. "They are letting the status quo and the government employee unions dictate their policy, and basically they are denying the president the tools he needs to do the job he has been asked to do."

Gramm added that the president should stick up for himself. "If I were the president, I would go to war over this homeland security [issue]-I think the Democrats are putting special interests and status quo in front of homeland security-I think it is intolerable," he said. "I have suggested to more than a few people in the administration that they are not being treated right."