The U.S. House of Representatives voted November 13 to establish a new federal Department of Homeland Security along the lines laid down by the Bush administration. The Senate, still under Democratic Party control in the lame-duck session, began considering the bill Friday, under an expedited procedure that limits debate to 30 hours and insures a final vote by November 20.
The Homeland Security bill represents a frontal assault on democratic rights, both in its provisions establishing, for the first time in U.S. history, a centralized federal internal security agency, and in its consequences for workers in the new department, who are being deprived of civil service protection and union rights.
On the issue of workers’ rights in the new department, which deadlocked congressional passage for the past three months, the House bill represents a complete victory for the White House, allowing the president to abolish collective bargaining and hire and fire workers at will.
The vote was a top-heavy 299-121, with nearly half of the Democrats joining with all but a few Republicans to endorse the measure. Among those voting for the bill was Nancy Pelosi, the California Democrat who is succeeding Richard Gephardt as house minority leader. Pelosi’s elevation has come under fire from sections of the Democratic Party, who consider her too “liberal.”
The Homeland Security bill represents a frontal assault on democratic rights, both in its provisions establishing, for the first time in U.S. history, a centralized federal internal security agency, and in its consequences for workers in the new department, who are being deprived of civil service protection and union rights.
On the issue of workers’ rights in the new department, which deadlocked congressional passage for the past three months, the House bill represents a complete victory for the White House, allowing the president to abolish collective bargaining and hire and fire workers at will.
The vote was a top-heavy 299-121, with nearly half of the Democrats joining with all but a few Republicans to endorse the measure. Among those voting for the bill was Nancy Pelosi, the California Democrat who is succeeding Richard Gephardt as house minority leader. Pelosi’s elevation has come under fire from sections of the Democratic Party, who consider her too “liberal.”