Cabinet Members Testify in Favor of Homeland Security Dept.

Secretary of State Colin Powell, Attorney General John Ashcroft, Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld testified in favor of the new cabinet-level department, which would combine the duties of 22 existing agencies into a single organization designed to better protect the nation in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks.

The president proposes gleaning manpower and funding from parts of the Secret Service, Customs Service and Border Patrol. If the president’s proposal goes through as planned, the Homeland Security Department would start with almost 170,000 employees and a first-year budget of $38 billion.

Meanwhile, a series of House committees set about rearranging portions of the proposal, indicating that there could be significant opposition. The House Transportation Committee, for instance, voted to block the transfer of the Coast Guard to the new department.

“Giving the new department dozens of responsibilities unrelated to homeland security risks bloating the size of the bureaucracy and diluting the new department’s counter-terrorism mission,” two House Democrats, Henry Waxman and David Obey, wrote in a letter to the president.

Other Democrats expressed concern that Homeland Security Department employees would lose collective bargaining rights and whistle-blower protection. There is also grave concern that the proposed department would be allowed to skirt “sunshine laws” such as the Freedom of Information Act.

Meanwhile, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld lauded the president’s proposal, saying the Department of Defense views the new Department of Homeland Security ?as a partner that can bring together critical functions in a new and needed way.”

Attorney General John Ashcroft testified to “unqualified support for the president’s vision of homeland security rooted in cooperation, nurtured by coordination and focused on the prevention of terrorist attacks.”

At Thursday’s hearing, Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill and Secretary of State Powell both supported the president’s call for “flexibility” within the department.

“If you let the secretary have the flexibility to develop a benchmark organization…the value created by these people will be staggeringly greater than what we’ve been able to do with the current collection,” O’Neill said.

House Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-Texas), chair of the new select committee, said proposal details are being hammered out this week. Committees have until Friday to submit their amendment suggestions. Next week, the special committee will piece the various proposals together into a final bill. The committee intends to send legislation to the full House within the next few weeks.

The Bush Administration and Congress have set the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks as a target date for establishing the new agency.