Lawmakers predict signing Department of Homeland Security bill by Sept. 11

Members of Congress testifying before a House panel June 11 said they would work with the administration so that a bill establishing a Department of Homeland Security could be signed by Sept. 11, the one-year anniversary of the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington.


"Doesn't it make sense to approve the conference report for a new Department of Homeland Security at our extraordinary congressional session in New York City Sept. 6, and to witness the signing ceremony at the Pentagon Sept. 11?" asked Rep. Jane Harman, D-Calif. "I am disappointed to learn that the administration may not submit legislative language for several weeks."


Harman was one of several legislators testifying before the House Government Reform subcommittee on national security, veterans' affairs and international relations about legislation that would create a Department of Homeland Security.


President Bush's proposal June 6 to create such a department gave added impetus to House and Senate bills of the same nature. While lawmakers said they still had questions about the president's proposal and were eager to see legislative language from the White House, they said they thought any differences could be quickly resolved.


"This piece of legislation may be more important than anything else any of us ever do in Congress," said Sen. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., sponsor of the Senate bill, S. 2452, to create a Department of Homeland Security. Lieberman also chairs the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee.


Legislators said they hoped to avoid turf battles, which could delay or prevent passage of a bill to create the new department.

President Bush proposed that the department include the Coast Guard, Customs Service, Federal Emergency Management Agency, Immigration and Naturalization Service, Secret Service and the Transportation Security Administration. Proponents say consolidation of security-related government functions under one Cabinet-level department would improve information sharing about terrorist threats, as well as incident prevention and response.


One or more new congressional committees might have to be formed to avoid turf battles about jurisdiction over creation and oversight of the new department, members of Congress said. A committee could be founded to oversee the making of the department, some said, while others said one could be created to oversee the department going forward.


"If we assign jurisdiction to 66 committees, we'd be here for time eternity. We are intending to meet with the House leadership. We want to discuss whether it will be permanent or temporary. One committee has to have jurisdiction [over the creation of the new department]," testified Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev.


The new department would be second in size only to the Department of Defense, Lieberman said. "I don't see how we handle it, except creating a permanent committee on homeland security" to oversee the new department after its establishment, he said.