Senate anti-terrorism bill gains momentum

By Jesse J. Holland

Associated Press

WASHINGTON – Hoping to quickly reassure Americans about their safety, House GOP leaders today abandoned their anti-terrorism legislation in favor of a bill approved by the Senate and the White House. However, House members planned to insist on several of their points, including a five-year expiration date on some of its new wiretapping powers.

House Democrats, who heavily favored the compromise passed unanimously by Republicans and Democrats in the House Judiciary Committee, argued that they hadn’t had chance to read or study the new House compromise bill introduced this morning.

“This could be the Gulf of Tonkin resolution for civil liberties, instead of a measure meant to fight terrorism,” said Rep. Peter DiFazio, D-Ore.

But House Republicans argued that there was no time to wait with the current terrorist threats. “This is the same bill that the Senate passed last night, it’s the same bill that has been available for a few weeks,” said Rep. David Weldon, R-Fla. “These are not new issues.”

However, House members insisted that some of the wiretapping provisions in the bill expire in 2004, with the president able to request an extention to the provision that would last until 2006, a measure not in the Senate legislation. “I think it would have real problems without some kind of sunset provision,” House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt, D-Mo., said Thursday. The House also deleted money laundering legislation added by the Senate, which Senate Majority Leader Thomas Daschle, D-S.D., said he would insist on being put back in the bill.

“We will not support a counterterrorism bill that does not have money laundering provisions in it,” Daschle said today. “So whether it’s done in conference or whether it’s done in the House of Representatives, it must be done, and we will insist that it be done.”

This comes as the White House said President Bush will impose tighter aviation security by executive order if Congress does not reconsider Senate legislation turning over airline and airport security to the federal government.

“It’s fair to say the president has broad authority here and if the Congress is unable to act, the president does want to make certain that aviation security is attended to and he does have broad authority,” White House press secretary Ari Fleischer said.

The Senate voted Thursday to “federalize” the jobs of airport security screeners, something Bush opposes because he says civil service rules could inhibit managers from firing bad workers. Fleischer noted that Bush has executive power to order fortified cockpit doors, additional air marshals and more stringent standards for the hiring and training of baggage screeners.

Both the House and Senate anti-terrorism measures would expand the FBI’s wiretapping authority, impose stronger penalties on those who harbor or finance terrorists and increase punishment for terrorists.

But unlike the original House anti-terrorism bill, the Senate measure has no expiration date on the new police powers and also includes money-laundering legislation requested by Attorney General John Ashcroft and the White House.

Rep. Tom DeLay of Texas, the House’s third-ranking Republican, said Wednesday he would try to block consideration of an aviation security bill until he gets the votes for legislation that would increase federal supervision over screeners but keep them as private employees.

The Bush administration supports that approach.

Lawmakers expect to go to a conference committee if no agreement can be reached between the two chambers. It took a year for lawmakers to come to a compromise on anti-terrorism legislation after the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, but this time “we will complete that conference quickly,” said Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt.

The aviation security bill passed the Senate on a 100-0 vote; the anti-terrorism bill 96-1. Only Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., dissented after failing in an effort to tone down parts of the bill’s police powers. He also grew angry that the bill, which came straight to the floor and not through committees, was moving so fast. “What have we come to when we don’t have either committee or Senate deliberation or amendments on an issue of this importance?” he said.

While sympathetic to Feingold’s cause, Daschle said any new amendments would upset the fragile Senate-White House compromise that allowed the bill to move so quickly. “I’m much more sympathetic to arriving at a product that will bring us to a point where we can pass something into law,” he said.

The Bush administration has urgently pressed for the two measures as a response to the Sept. 11 hijacked airliner attacks in New York and Washington but both had been stalled for two weeks, the aviation security bill over efforts to add aid for laid-off airline workers and money for Amtrak, and the anti-terrorism bill over civil liberty concerns.

“I commend the Senate for acting quickly and in a bipartisan way to give law enforcement these essential additional tools to combat terrorism and safeguard America against future terrorist attacks,” Bush said.

The stalemate on the aviation bill was broken Thursday when a procedural vote went against an amendment to link the bill to a $1.9 billion package to help laid-off aviation workers.

Sen. Jean Carnahan, D-Mo., author of the amendment, withdrew it after the vote, opening the way for passage of the bill.

Carnahan argued that after Congress approved $40 billion in emergency spending and a $15 billion plan to help the airline industry in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terror attacks, it was only right to provide extended unemployment benefits, health care and training to the estimated 140,000 laid-off aviation workers.

Daschle expressed his “grave disappointment” over the vote against Carnahan. “This is the first time that we have said ‘no’ to any of the victims of the disaster of one month ago.”

The new House anti-terrorism bill is HR 3108. The Senate bill is S. 1510. The aviation security bill is S. 1447.

On the Net: Bill texts: http://thomas.loc.gov

Senators’ Web sites: http://www.senate.gov/senators/index.cfm