Security bill faces veto threat

WASHINGTON —  The Bush administration warned the House on Wednesday that legislation to authorize Homeland Security Department programs would be vetoed if it gave the agency’s 170,000 employees greater collective bargaining rights.

The White House said eliminating the current personnel system would “diminish the department’s ability to respond quickly to security threats.”

The bill, which approves $39.8 billion for Homeland Security programs in the budget year starting Oct. 1, passed the House on Wednesday on a 296-126 vote, sending it to the Senate.

The labor dispute was a major sticking point when Congress decided in 2002 to consolidate 22 agencies into the new department after the Sept. 11 attacks.

The bill creating the agency easily passed the House, but it stalled in the Senate for months. Democrats balked at President Bush’s insistence that he needed the power to hire, fire and shift workers without the civil service protections most federal workers have. According to the compromise, the agency has the final say over labor rules if there’s an impasse. The president has authority, in an emergency, to strip workers of bargaining rights.

The White House said eliminating this system would upset the balance “between the flexibility needed to defend against a ruthless enemy and the fairness needed to ensure employee rights.”