Senators Offer Changes to Homeland Security Bill

WASHINGTON —  Rewriting a key provision in President Bush’s plan for a Department of Homeland Security, Senate Democrats pushed Wednesday to build an intelligence unit within the proposed Cabinet agency.

And in another move to expand on the Bush blueprint, the Democratic chairman and the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee also were seeking to include the Treasury Department’s Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, a law enforcement agency with expertise in bombs and other weaponry.

Senior Democrats and Republicans also agreed on a measure to amend a federal public record law in an effort to encourage private industry to disclose to the government sensitive information about vulnerabilities, threats and attacks.

The Senate committee’s wheeling and dealing on homeland security came as the House prepared to consider the bill today, with a vote expected Friday.

At the White House, Bush met for the second consecutive day with members of both parties, pressing his argument that the new department should be given significant authority to shift funds and manage personnel outside normal government rules.

“We’re talking about an incredibly important piece of legislation,” Bush said during a photo session at the end of one meeting. “It’s really a piece of legislation to make America a safer place.”

The president expressed optimism that “we’re going to get a good bill on Friday out of the House,” and he asked the Senate to finish work on its version next week before beginning a summer break.

On both sides of the Capitol, lawmakers intensified efforts to craft legislation that would implement the most significant executive reorganization in more than 50 years. It would result in a department with more than 160,000 employees now scattered among 22 agencies.

Most lawmakers appear to agree with the White House that the new department should include the Coast Guard, the Customs Service and the Transportation Security Administration, among other agencies. But many details about the department’s size and management remain unresolved.

Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Pasadena), who met this week with Bush, said most lawmakers want to back the president. But, he added, “I want to make sure we get it right.”

On the eve of its debate, House leaders sought to winnow down 102 proposed amendments to a 232-page bill that largely tracks the Bush plan.

In the Senate, the Governmental Affairs Committee worked throughout the day on a 273-page draft prepared by Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (D-Conn.), the chairman. It is expected to approve a bill today. If approved, the bill would go to the full Senate.

Under Bush’s plan, the new department would be organized into four units, including one charged with safeguarding major public and private assets. Within that unit, Bush proposes an “intelligence analysis center” to collect information from various agencies and assess threats and weak points.

Sen. Fred Thompson of Tennessee, the committee’s ranking Republican, defended the president’s plan, saying that broader intelligence reforms should wait until Congress has completed a wide-ranging review of the FBI, the CIA and other agencies.

Lieberman, however, is seeking to elevate and expand the analysis center. He would create a “directorate of intelligence” reporting to the homeland security secretary.

The committee approved a plan by Lieberman and Sen. Daniel K. Akaka (D-Hawaii) to make the directorate “a national-level focal point for information relating to the plans, intentions and capabilities of terrorists and terrorist organizations.” The directorate, though it would have lesser powers than Lieberman envisioned, would “communicate, coordinate and cooperate” with the FBI and the intelligence community.

The committee also approved a proposal brokered by Sens. Robert F. Bennett (R-Utah), Carl Levin (D-Mich.) and Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) to create an exemption to the Freedom of Information Act.

Under this proposal, certain records that private industry voluntarily supplies to the Department of Homeland Security would be shielded from public scrutiny.

Leahy also teamed with the top Republican on the Judiciary Committee, Sen. Orrin G. Hatch of Utah, on a plan to beef up the new department’s law enforcement powers. They proposed Tuesday to move the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms to the Department of Homeland Security. Sen. Max Cleland (D-Ga.) won approval Wednesday from the Governmental Affairs Committee to bring the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, now in the Treasury Department, into the new agency.

Times staff writer James Gerstenzang contributed to this report.