Jul 19, 2002 4 min read

WASHINGTON (AP) – President Bush’s plan for uniform national drivers’ license standards would be killed and a year-end deadline for anti-terrorism screening of airport baggage would be postponed indefinitely under legislation unveiled Thursday by House Republican leaders. The fine print of the 216-page bill creating a new Homeland Security Department, sponsored by House Majority Leader Dick Armey, also would scrap a Bush administration program that critics say encourages Americans to spy on each other and would give some technology companies involved in national security immunity from lawsuits.

The House Select Committee on Homeland Security is likely to alter the measure when it is considered Friday, as is the full House when it reaches the floor next week. Overall, the bill would give President Bush much of the huge new Cabinet agency he requested to safeguard Americans from terrorism at home.

The Senate has finished hearings on a new department, but is not expected to take up the issue for a few weeks.

A spokeswoman for the chief Senate author, Democrat Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut, said his version would also include most of Bush’s major priorities.

Armey, R-Texas, included some surprising items in the House measure, some of which run directly counter to proposals Bush has made and were never recommended by any House committees.

The proposal to delay indefinitely the Dec. 31 deadline for all checked airline bags to be screened for explosives drew immediate fire from Rep. Jim Oberstar of Minnesota, senior Democrat on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

“Now, you have a proposal that already undermines security,” Oberstar said in an interview. “How can you establish a Homeland Security Department and undermine security by giving this open-ended extension?”

In a letter to colleagues, Oberstar said the new Transportation Security Administration – which would become part of Homeland Security under Armey’s bill – has repeatedly assured Congress it can meet the deadline.

Airports have been pressing for a temporary delay, even though they can individually get one if they cannot meet the deadline.

On the privacy issues, Bush proposed this week in his homeland security strategy that states be encouraged to develop uniform rules for issuing drivers’ licenses as an anti-terrorism measure. To many conservatives and civil libertarians, that sounded too much like a national identification card that the government could use to track Americans.

Armey flatly rejected that notion, saying, “Authority to design and issue these cards shall remain with the states.”

The bill also includes language that would prohibit programs such as the Justice Department’s Operation TIPS.

Supporters say the initiative is aimed at encouraging people with certain jobs – those that take them into neighborhoods, along coasts and on public transit – to watch for suspicious activity.

But Rachel King, legislative counsel with the American Civil Liberties Union, said it could “turn local cable or gas or electrical technicians into government-sanctioned peeping toms.”

Even though administration officials said that was an exaggeration and the program is voluntary, Republican conservatives also criticized the idea as smacking of a government Big Brother. With opposition mounting, the postal service announced it would not participate.

“I think they did a good job on the privacy issues,” said House Minority Whip Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., a select committee member.

The Armey legislation also would create a new “privacy officer” in the Homeland Security Department, which he said was a first ever established by law in a Cabinet agency.

This person, Armey said, would “ensure technology research and new regulations from the department respect the civil liberties our citizens enjoy.”

Other Democrats raised questions about language in the bill that they said could protect technology companies involved in certain kinds of anti-terrorism work from lawsuits.

Democrats and Republicans have long been at odds over reducing liability from lawsuits.

There were other sticking points as well. GOP leaders and Democrats continued to negotiate whether to give Bush flexibility in making personnel decisions, which the president says he needs to respond quickly to new terrorist threats.

Opponents say it could wreck civil service workers’ protections and undermine union collective bargaining.

Key lawmakers also reached an agreement with the White House to give Bush some authority to transfer up to 2 percent of the money for two years – with some strings attached – within the agency instead of the 5 percent unilateral power he had sought.

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On the Net: House select committee: http://sc.house.gov