Nov 26, 2002 3 min read

The bill creating a federal Department of Homeland Security should be on President Bush’s desk before Thanksgiving. The measure, approved by a 90-9 vote in the Senate last week, is a major policy victory for the president, giving him the government structure and authority he says he needs to protect the nation from domestic terrorist attacks. Unfortunately, the bill may be as remarkable for what it doesn’t do as for what it does.

For example, it doesn’t make the country any more secure in the short term. The behemoth agency – which will merge 22 smaller agencies with combined budgets of $40 billion and 170,000 workers – won’t be at full operational capacity for several months. And some might argue that yet another bureaucratic colossus, with its potential to become a bottomless money pit, is the last thing we need in Washington as the government tries to reverse its and the country’s recent financial misfortunes.

As lawmakers prepare to bring down the curtain on the 107th Congress, there is also the little matter of funding the government for the next fiscal year, already seven weeks old. Eleven of the 13 normal appropriations bills needed to keep federal agencies running remain in limbo. The government won’t shut down because both the House and Senate approved stopgap funding measures good through Jan. 11, 2003. But the budget stalemate has blocked most of the extra money needed to enhance domestic security. And lawmakers put off until next year a decision on how much money the new department will get to spend.

Democrat Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York said the bill falls short because it does not increase security along the nation’s borders, in ports and on public transportation systems. These are believed to be among America’s soft spots and inviting terrorist targets.

Meanwhile, most Senate Democrats, though they supported the bill, are unhappy with the diminished labor rights that will apply to the new department’s workers. The president will have the authority to hire, fire and transfer these federal employees as he deems necessary to protect national interests.

Expect more work on the homeland security bill in 2003. As part of a deal with the Democrats to secure Senate passage, Republican leaders agreed to revisit some of the more controversial provisions of the measure. Of course, in the 108th Congress, the GOP will control the Senate as well as the House. So don’t expect the White House or the Republicans to back off much.

Bush called creation of the new Cabinet-level department a “historic and bold step to protect the American people.” Veteran Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W. Va., one of eight Democrats who voted “no” on the bill, said his colleagues were creating a “bureaucratic monstrosity” that would appear to protect America against terrorists but in fact would not.

It’s impossible to say which man is correct. It’s been more than a year since Sept. 11, 2001 – more than a year since an attack on U.S. soil. The government must be doing something right. Establishment of a Department of Homeland Security may prove to be yet another positive effort to protect the country and its citizens.

At the same time, we continue to hear dire warnings about further attacks that are not only possible but probable, likely and inevitable. The nation’s security blanket has a lot of holes to fill. The bureaucratic monstrosity has a monstrous job ahead of it.