- WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The
House voted to create a giant department to protect Americans against terrorism
on Friday -- after backing President Bush's demand to limit labor rights
at the new agency in an effort to ensure an efficient operation.
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- On a vote of 295-132, the House passed a bill to establish
a Department of Homeland Security. It would bring together in the biggest
U.S. government reorganization in a half century all or parts of 22 existing
agencies, including the Coast Guard, Secret Service and Border Patrol.
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- Shortly before passage, Democrats attached an amendment
that would prohibit the department from issuing contracts to companies
that reincorporate offshore to avoid U.S. taxes.
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- "These companies have abandoned their country,"
Rep. Rosa DeLauro, a Connecticut Democrat, said in offering the revision.
"They should not be rewarded with contracts from the very department
charged with securing our safety."
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- House Majority Leader Dick Armey of Texas argued against
the last-minute change, saying this "poorly drafted motion ... is
not about homeland security but homeland politics."
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- Regardless, the chamber passed it on a vote of 318-110.
About 100 Republicans changed their votes to aye after it became apparent
it would be approved.
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- This provision, along with the battle over labor rights,
will be revisited when the Democratic-led Senate considers its version
of the measure, possibly as early as next week.
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- Differences between the two bills must be worked out
before a final measure can be sent to Bush to sign into law.
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- Shortly after Friday's vote, Bush declared in a statement,
"The House has shown a strong commitment to improving the security
of the American people, and I urge the senators to do the same before they
leave for the August recess."
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- Eighty-eight Democrats joined 207 Republicans in passing
the House bill; 120 Democrats, 10 Republicans and two independents opposed
it.
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- Earlier on Friday, Bush called the Senate version unacceptable
because it would not provide him the management flexibility he has sought.
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- "I'm not going to accept legislation that limits
or weakens the president's well-established authorities -- authorities
to exempt parts of government from federal labor management relations statutes
-- when it serves our national interest," Bush said.
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- Despite this congressional-election year battle over
labor rights, there is broad bipartisan support to establish a Department
of Homeland Security.
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- It often takes Congress a year or more for either of
its chambers to pass a major piece of legislation. But the House approved
its bill just seven weeks after Bush first proposed the department at the
prodding of Congress.
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- The White House and Congress have adopted as a target
date for enactment of a homeland security bill the first anniversary of
the Sept. 11 attacks. But they now say it may take longer to resolve a
number of differences.
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- Many of those differences were on display in the Republican-led
House on Friday during about 12 hours of often stormy debate. Democrats
suffered a string of defeats.
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- In addition to amendments on labor rights, they were
defeated in efforts to strike a Republican provision that would delay for
one year the start of airport screening of bags for explosives.
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- They also failed in bids to reduce exemptions of the
Freedom of Information Act in the department and limit liability protections
for makers of security technology.
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- House Republican Whip Tom DeLay of Texas hailed the bill,
saying, "We need to move forward to provide the president with the
tools he needs."
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- Bush contends existing labor rules would hamper the efficient
running of the department by making it difficult to hire, fire and transfer
workers, or even give them pay hikes.
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- Critics complain Bush wants authority to strip labor
protections from all workers deemed vital to national security -- even
if their duties remain the same in the new department.
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- "We're supposed to be fighting terrorism, (but)
we're now fighting workers," said Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, a Texas
Democrat.
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- Rep. Dan Burton, an Indiana Republican, rejected such
complaints, saying: "President Bush is not an anti-union president.
He will work with organized labor."
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