The Hindu : U.S. Senate passes Homeland Security Bill

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Nov 21, 2002

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International

U.S. Senate passes Homeland Security Bill

By Sridhar Krishnaswami

Washington Nov. 20. In an impressive fashion, the U.S. Senate passed the Homeland Security Department legislation giving the President, George W Bush, what he has been asking for in the last several months. The vote was by a margin of 90 to 9. Eight Democrats and an Independent voted against the measure.

In what will be the largest federal re-organisation since the coming to the fore of the Department of Defence in 1947, the Homeland Security Department will merge 22 federal agencies that have a combined budget of $40 billions and a workforce of about 170,000. It is expected that the full and complete reorganisation of the Department will take several months, if not years. But under the scheme of things such agencies like the Customs, Immigration and Naturalisation Service, Border Patrol and the Secret Service will be under one roof. The CIA and the FBI will remain separate but will closely coordinate with it, especially as it pertains to domestic security.

The Senate was expected to give its clearance to the new Department but it was not going to be easy given the kind of political pork that had been written in the version passed by the House of Representatives. Democrats vigorously protested some of the blatantly political-cum-business provisions that had been tagged on to the House version in the final stages. And the Democrats got the necessary help from senior Republicans as well. The big hurdle was when an amendment to drop seven provisions of the House version was defeated by a vote of 52 to 47 and largely on party lines.

But the Republican leadership feared a revolt in the ranks if no agreement was reached on major modification or elimination of some of the contentious portions of the House version. These will be dropped next year.

At least one provision that rankled the Democrats was to shield pharmaceutical companies already being sued over defective vaccines that led to autism in children; and another was the provision for only a particular university in Texas to get research funds for Homeland Security. It is widely expected that the former Governor of Pennsylvania, Tom Ridge, who is currently the Director of Homeland Security Office in the White House, will head the new department. Mr. Ridge is a close friend and confidant of the President, and is seen as a highly competent person for the job. On his way to Eastern Europe for the Summit of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, Mr. Bush called the Bill's passage as a "historic and bold step forward to protect the American people''.

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