The American Spectator

Washington Prowler

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announced he had no intention of bringing the full Homeland Security bill before the full Senate until he darned well felt like it. /p>

This was a gambit on his part to try to force the Bush White House to pull back on demands related to the mix of union and nonunion hiring at the new agency. The White House wants broad discretion in determining the employment policies for the agencies. But federal employee unions have been lobbying Democrats to demand the same kind of employment protections -- pay, vacation, seniority etc. -- as those provided to union members throughout the Washington bureaucracy. It's a huge issue for the unions since it's expected that at least initially the makeup of Homeland Security will be pulled together from departments such as Justice, Defense, the CIA, Transportation, Energy, even Agriculture and Commerce.

"Look, Daschle has a constituency to protect," says a Democratic leadership staffer. "He's listening to their concerns, and in an election year, with us looking at a recess in the next month, we don't think we need to push this thing harder than we have already. We don't hear the public calling for quick action. Homeland Security isn't registering at all for them."

Well, it may not be registering with the American people, but it's registering with some serious people on Capitol Hill. While Daschle basically fiddles, some in his party have been negotiating with the White House in good faith. Sens. Joseph Lieberman, Ben Nelson and John Breaux have all been working the Republicans to bring a vote on Homeland Security to the floor at some point before the end of October.

"But we can't even get the Republican leader to stand up and really push for this," says a frustrated Democratic staffer. "At some point Trent Lott has to stand up to Daschle and just say, 'Enough. We have a plan, we have 53 votes. Let's move forward.'"

p>The 53 votes presumably would include the three Democrats, as well as Vermont independent Jim Jeffords , who has indicated general support for Homeland Security legislation. Of course the other part of the equation is the White House. According to some Democratic staffers, Breaux and Nelson have been attempting to find some middle ground on the hiring rules for the new department, giving the White House much of the leeway it's been seeking, but not all. Thus far, the Bushies have balked at cutting a deal. br> /p>

topics:
Transportation, NATO, Energy, Unions