Bush Threatens to Veto Congress Homeland Security Department Proposal
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.S. President Bush has threatened to veto congressional versions of his plan for Homeland security.
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HIGH
POINT, North Carolina, July 26 (IslamOnline& News Agencies) –
U.S. President George W. Bush threatened to veto Thursday the creation
of the homeland security department if Congress does not grant him
enough flexibility in the administration of the new agency, which
would employ up to 190,000 people.
Bush
"will receive a recommendation from his advisors to veto this if
the president's concerns are not addressed," said White House
spokesman said Ari Fleischer, accompanying Bush on a trip to North
Carolina.
Fleischer
told reporters traveling with the President aboard Air Force One that
the warning was aimed at the Democratic Senate majority.
Bush,
Fleischer said, is very preoccupied with the project, the details of
which are being hammered out by a Senate committee.
"The
President is extremely concerned with the way the Senate committee is
passing the homeland security bill that he proposed," Fleischer
said. "The President will continue to work in a bipartisan
manner, but we do have serious reservations about the direction that
the bill has taken."
Saying
he needs management flexibility to make the department an efficient
operation to better protect the nation against terrorism, Bush is
threatening to veto the legislation because it does not exempt the
proposed agency from civil-service and budget rules. Bush has asked
for flexibility in hiring and spending, limiting employee workplace
rights, without consulting Congress if necessary.
"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," said Bush.
On
Friday, in a speech in the Old Executive Office Building next door to
the White House in an effort to make his case, Bush said to an
audience that included governors, mayors, firefighters, police and
lawmakers, “…a time of war is the wrong time to weaken the
President's ability to protect the American people."
"We
can't be micromanaged," he said.
The
White House complains existing labor rules would hamper the efficient
running of the new department, which would have a first-year budget of
about $38 billion, and give to Bush what critics see as blanket
authority to strip the collective bargaining and civil service
protections of any employee deemed vital to national security.
Fleischer
provided an example exhorted by the White House concerning the need
for the President’s version of the bill: "If a border patrol
agent is found to be intoxicated, and lets a potential terrorist into
the country, he or she cannot be fired without a written 30-day
notice," pointing out that providing the new department
flexibility in hiring and firing "creates a powerful deterrent
for other workers to make sure that they do not engage in behavior
that could damage the homeland protections of our country."
Democrats
and organized labor strongly oppose Bush's position, saying it
violates workers' rights.
The
House bill contains most of the provisions concerning personnel sought
by the President, but faces proposed amendments altering it. On
Thursday, the Democratic-led Senate Governmental Affairs Committee
brushed aside the veto threat and approved a bill, on a 12-5 vote,
that would deny Bush the power he seeks to limit labor rights, reports
news agencies.
The
full House is expected to pass the bill on Friday, and the Senate
version is expected to pass next week.
A
Senate panel on Thursday proposed the biggest change to Bush’s
original plan, giving the department a separate directorate, headed by
an undersecretary, to bolster the collection and analysis of
intelligence from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Central
Intelligence Agency (CIA) and other agencies.
Notwithstanding
disagreement over workers’ rights, both congressional versions would
give Bush most of what he wants to better coordinate defenses against
terrorism. As requested, it would fold all or parts of 22 agencies
into the department, including the Coast Guard, Secret Service and
Federal Emergency Management Agency, reports news agencies.
Fleischer
rejected Thursday the idea that whomever Bush may name to the new
cabinet post would have to be confirmed by the Senate, something the
commission is considering.
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