Senate to Debate Homeland Security Bill
2007/02/27 14:25
A Senate drive to approve homeland security legislation could lead to a clash with the White House over airport screeners and standardized drivers’ licenses.
The Senate planned to begin debate on Tuesday. The legislation would improve rail and aviation security, provide funds for state and local emergency communications systems, improve intelligence sharing between federal, state and local officials, and expand a visa waiver benefit for favored countries.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., told the Senate on Monday that it is time to implement the remaining
recommendations of the 9/11 commission. The panel issued a report card on the status of its recommendations last year, and Reid said any child would be embarrassed to take home those marks.
“It included 12 Ds, five Fs and two incompletes,” Reid said.
A provision in the Senate legislation would require that airport screeners receive the same collective bargaining and whistle-blower rights held by most federal employees. However, it received only Democratic support when it was approved by the Senate Homeland Security Committee.
It’s possible that this language could run into partisan problems on the Senate floor, where there might not be enough votes to overcome a Republican filibuster. By themselves, Democrats would lack the 60 votes needed to end GOP delaying tactics that could kill the provision.
At the time the committee adopted the unionization provision, Chairman Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., said that screeners, who became a federal work force after the 9/11 attacks, had been denied the most basic employee protections.
Saying the screeners had been beset with “unusually high rates of attrition, vacancy, workplace injury, discrimination complaints and other indications of employee dissatisfaction,” Lieberman predicted that the measure would improve security.
The Bush administration strongly opposed the provision, and committee Republicans argued that the Homeland Security Department needs flexibility in setting screeners’ schedules and procedures.
