DEPT OF HOMELAND SECURITY Including DEMOCRAT ATTACKS AND THE TRUTH

The President's most important job is to protect and defend the American people.

The changing nature of the threats requires a new government structure to protect against invisible enemies that can strike with a wide variety of weapons. No one single government agency has homeland security as its primary mission – responsibility for homeland security is dispersed among more than 100 different government organizations.

America needs a single, unified homeland security structure that will improve protection against today’s threats and be flexible enough to help meet the unknown threats of the future.

President Bush has proposed to create a new Department of Homeland Security – one more key step in the President's national strategy for homeland security. The Department of Homeland Security would make Americans safer because our nation would have:

One department whose primary mission is to protect the American homeland;
One department to secure our borders, transportation sector, ports, and critical infrastructure; One department to synthesize and analyze homeland security intelligence from multiple sources;
One department to coordinate communications with state and local governments, private industry, and the American people about threats and preparedness;
One department to coordinate our efforts to protect the American people against bioterrorism and other weapons of mass destruction;
One department to help train and equip first responders; One department to manage federal emergency response activities; and
More security officers in the field working to stop terrorists and fewer resources in Washington managing duplicative and redundant activities that drain critical homeland security resources.
The Department of Homeland Security would have a clear and efficient organizational structure with four divisions:

Border and Transportation Security
Emergency Preparedness and Response
Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Countermeasures
Information Analysis and Infrastructure Protection

Senator Tom Daschle said that managerial flexibility in a new Department of Homeland Security would “give this president... dictatorial powers.”

“[I]t takes too long to hire good people. There’s too many bureaucratic rules. … I need the capacity … to pay people according to their contributions and hold people to account for their performance, both good and bad.”
– President George W. Bush

SENATOR DASCHLE: (Regarding the new Department of Homeland Security) “[Daschle] told reporters that Senate Democrats did not want to ‘give this president or any president the dictatorial powers that I think compromise the checks and balances that our founding fathers recognized.’”
(Arshad Mohammed, “Bush, Daschle Spar Over Homeland Security Agency,” Reuters, August 15, 2002)

REPRESENTATIVE GEPHARDT: (on Tom Ridge As Homeland Security Director) “We’ve got a general who has no power right now, and the troops don’t know where they’re going,” said House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt, D-MO.
(David Jackson, “Bush Wants To Merge Federal Agencies Into New Department Of Homeland Security,” The Dallas Morning News, June 7, 2002)

President Bush Signed Legislation To Strengthen Homeland Security. “The President has signed legislation to increase aviation security, enhance border security, improve protections from bioterrorism, and expand the ability of law enforcement to prevent terrorism. The President proposed and the House of Representatives passed legislation creating the new Department of Homeland Security - the most significant transformation of the U.S. government in over a half-century.”
(“A Record Of Accomplishment For The American People,” The White House, August 3, 2002)

The New York Times Believes A Homeland Security Department “Makes Sense.” “[The President’s] proposal to draw together more than a dozen federal agencies in a new Department of Homeland Security makes sense. . . . In making his decision, Mr. Bush showed flexibility and willingness to change course. At its best, as Franklin Roosevelt once said, government should function in a spirit of boldness and an openness to new ideas. The president’s plans are a step in that direction. It is now up to Congress to make sure that they are carried out effectively, with maximum chance for public scrutiny and oversight.”
(Editorial, “Back To The Drawing Board,” The New York Times, June 7, 2002)

Senator Daschle Felt That A National Office For Combating Terrorism Would Be “An Excellent Idea.” “Of the ‘proposed National Office for Combating Terrorism,’ Daschle said, ‘I think it’s an excellent idea. It may not be the final word . . . but I do believe it’s the kind of approach that would enjoy broad support in the Senate.’”
(Ferraro, Reuters as cited in The Bulletin Frontrunner, June 13, 2002)

President Bush Needs The Flexibility To Protect America. “No 21st century president facing the stress of terrorism ought to feel forever hog-tied by labor laws and contracts modeled after codes written to protect smokestack-era workers [from] management hooliganism.”
(Editorial, “Both Sides Must Cooperate To Ensure National Security,” The Buffalo News, August 26, 2002)

America’s Leaders Must Have The Flexibility To Ensure The Security Of The Homeland. “[I]f you limit the ability of the president to move people around within this organization . . . you will not have done everything you possibly can to protect this country and our way of life.”
(Tom Ridge, CBS’ “The Early Show,” September 3, 2002)

Bush Condemns Senate Homeland Plan

By CURT ANDERSON
.c The Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush's spokesman sharply condemned the Senate and vowed a presidential veto as the chamber's Democratic majority claimed enough support to keep labor unions happy and deny him new management authority over the proposed new Department of Homeland Security.

Senate Democrats, joined by moderate Republican Sen. Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island, appeared to have just enough votes to pass homeland-security legislation without the enhanced hiring and firing powers Bush seeks in the name of protecting the nation from terrorism.

``Make no mistake: if what the Senate (passes) in that narrow vote were to come to the president's desk it will be vetoed,'' White House press secretary Ari Fleischer said.

``The president will be effectively prevented from making decisions based on national security no matter how urgent a crisis we find ourselves in,'' Fleischer said.

As work on Bush's broader proposal for a new Cabinet department ground forward, the Senate voted 90-8 Tuesday to create a 10-member independent commission that would conduct a broad investigation into intelligence failures and other government missteps before the Sept. 11 attacks and recommend how to prevent future disasters.

The Sept. 11 commission idea, championed by many victims' families, gained inexorable momentum when the Bush administration last week dropped its opposition. Although differences must be worked out with a less far-reaching House version and with the White House, it is clear that a commission will be created.

``If we don't come to terms with the whole truth by looking back at what happened, we can never move forward with the knowledge and confidence we need to set things right,'' said Sen. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., a chief sponsor along with Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.

For weeks, Bush has threatened to veto the Democratic bill creating the 170,000-employee Homeland Security Department, arguing it would not permit him to hire, fire and deploy workers quickly to meet terrorist threats or exempt them from union bargaining rights for reasons of national security.

But the president's supporters have been unable to muster enough votes in the closely divided Senate to push his measure over the top despite nearly four weeks of debate. The GOP-led House passed a version closely tracking the president's in July.

Senate Republicans, joined by a single conservative Democrat, are insisting that Bush get a clear-cut vote on the personnel issue. GOP senators and the lone Democrat, Sen. Zell Miller of Georgia, said they will resist efforts by Democratic leaders to force a Senate vote on only the alternative deemed more acceptable to many Democrats and their labor union allies.

``We intend to fight to make sure the president gets an up-or-down vote,'' said Sen. Phil Gramm, R-Texas.

Chafee and Democratic Sens. John Breaux of Louisiana and Ben Nelson of Nebraska offered a new proposal Tuesday they said could break the impasse.

``This is an important step forward,'' said Chafee, who so far is the only GOP senator to break with Bush publicly on the labor issues.

Their amendment would give Bush much of power he wants to set up a new management system at the agency. But it would also set new conditions on Bush's existing authority to remove some of the new agency's estimated 43,000 union workers from collective bargaining work rules in matters of national security.

These include requirements that the responsibilities of the workers would have materially changed, and that a majority of workers in a given federal entity were engaged in anti-terrorism intelligence or investigative work.

``The president will have to spell it out very, very clearly,'' Breaux said.

One union representing 12,000 workers endorsed the proposal as ``the best compromise'' available to bridge the gap. ``This compromise maintains fundamental protections for employees who will be transferred,'' said Colleen Kelly, president of the National Treasury Employees Union.

Bush continued to object to Senate efforts. ``The Senate feels like they want to micromanage the process,'' he said at a Republican fund-raiser Tuesday night. ``Not all senators, but some senators.

``They will hamstring future administrations as to how best to protect our homeland. And I'm not going to stand for it,'' Bush said.

The Senate-created commission's probe would be much broader than a House version, which was limited mainly to post-Sept. 11 intelligence questions. The Senate panel would have authority to look into the roles of law enforcement, commercial aviation, U.S. diplomacy, border control and immigration, along with intelligence.

An initial report would be due within six months, with a final report within a year, on recommendations to prevent future attacks. The measure authorizes $3 million to cover the commission's costs.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.