- WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President
Bush won an important post-election battle in the U.S. Senate on Tuesday,
with three key moderates announcing their support for a revised version
of his proposed Department of Homeland Security, virtually assuring it
of congressional passage.
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- Democratic Sens. John Breaux of Louisiana and Ben Nelson
of Nebraska and Republican Sen. Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island gave Bush
the needed level of Senate support by backing a new proposal to resolve
a dispute over labor rights in the department. The department is designed
to better protect the nation against an attack like the one on Sept. 11,
2001.
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- Their decision provided Bush with at least 52 votes in
the 100-member Senate for his version of homeland security legislation,
congressional aides said.
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- "In the end, most members of the Senate want to
pass homeland security," the three senators said in a joint statement.
"We will vote for this proposal when it reaches the Senate floor."
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- U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Dennis Hastert,
an Illinois Republican, said the House would take up the revised measure
on Wednesday. The Senate was expected to provide its needed concurrence
by early next week, aides said.
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- The legislation would implement the biggest U.S. government
reorganization in a half century by rolling into the new department all
or parts of 22 existing federal agencies, including the Border Patrol,
Secret Service and Coast Guard.
-
- Although Sen. Robert Byrd, a West Virginia Democrat,
may try to wage a filibuster against it, Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle
of South Dakota has said he would oppose any such delay.
-
- Aides said it appeared certain that there would be the
needed 60 Senate votes to end debate and bring up the measure for passage.
A procedural vote has been scheduled for Wednesday that could serve as
an important test for the legislation.
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- 'WE NEED TO COMPLETE OUR WORK'
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- "There may be differences of opinion on different
components of the legislation, but there is no disagreement that we need
to complete our work on this bill promptly," Daschle said.
-
- The proposed department was a key issue in last week's
congressional election as Republicans won back control of the Senate and
expanded their majority in the House.
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- In campaigning for fellow Republicans, Bush blamed Democrats
for the failure to pass legislation to create the department, arguing they
were more interested in protecting workers' rights than the nation's security.
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- U.S. lawmakers returned on Tuesday for a "lame-duck
session" to deal with homeland security and some other unfinished
business they hope to complete before the new 108th Congress convenes in
January.
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- "I believe we can get this done," Bush said
earlier on Tuesday. "The people want us to come together."
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- On Capitol Hill, lawmakers reviewed the new White House-backed
proposal that would give Bush the power he has demanded to exempt unionized
workers from collective bargaining agreements in the name of national security.
His successor in the White House could extend the exemption or end it.
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- In addition, the new department would be able effectively
to bypass civil service rules in promoting, firing and transferring workers,
aides said.
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- Under the new proposal, unions must be given advance
notice, would have an opportunity to object and could take their case to
the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service. But if no agreement is
reached, the department can carry out its initial intentions, aides said.
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- BINDING ARBITRATION
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- In their joint statement, Breaux, Nelson and Chafee said
they still preferred their own earlier proposed compromise, which would
have provided for some binding arbitration.
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- But they conceded that last week's election, which will
put Republicans in charge of the Senate when the new Congress convenes
in January, gave the other side a better negotiating position.
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- Bobby Harnage, president of the 600,000-member American
Federation of Government Employees, denounced the White House-backed proposal.
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- "The American public deserves a federal government
response to September 11 that actually improves our nation's domestic security,"
Harnage said in a statement. "Instead, they are getting warmed-over
union busting."
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- Democrats complained that the revised White House-backed
measure does not include a proposal included in an earlier bipartisan Senate
version that would have created an independent commission to investigate
the Sept. 11 attacks.
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