The push for intelligence reform
By Judy Woodruff
CNN Washington Bureau
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|  VIDEO |
 CNN's Elaine Quijano on the status of the intelligence bill.
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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- With a pending intelligence reform bill before Congress, a normally quiet recess on Capitol Hill has turned into a vociferous bipartisan public relations campaign aimed at unblocking the reform bill.
House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Illinois,was forced to pull the bill off the floor two weeks ago after two members of his own party -- Congressman James Sensenbrenner, R-Wisconsin, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, and Congressman Duncan Hunter, R-California, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee -- spoke against the bill in a House GOP gathering.
Since then, the intelligence reform bill's supporters have been putting more pressure on members of Congress to pass the bill.
Representatives Christopher Shays, R-Connecticut, and Carolyn Maloney, D-New York, who started a 9/11 Commission caucus, held an event Tuesday with members of families who lost loved ones in the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Some families are also holding vigils this week in New York, Boston and Los Angeles, and former 9/11 Commission members are also ratcheting up the public relations push to get a bill passed, CNN Congressional Correspondent Joe Johns reported on Inside Politics.
Former 9/11 Commission Chairman Thomas Kean and former commission Vice Chairman Lee Hamilton met with Vice President Cheney Tuesday.
Many Democrats and Republicans are publicly urging President George Bush to get more involved in promoting the bill, even as some question his commitment to its passage.
CNN's Joe Johns reported on Monday that the White House is trying to put an end to criticism the president is only lukewarm about intelligence reform.
White House spokesman Scott McClellan said that the president disagrees with Republican Congressman Hunter, who opposes intelligence reforms on the grounds it could confuse the chain of command for military intelligence.
When I interviewed 9/11 Commissioners Kean and Hamilton Tuesday, they both said they assume Bush supports the bill and remain optimistic for its passage. "There has never been a bill that has the support of the president, vice president, the House and the Senate that has not passed," Kean said. "Let's hope this is not the first."
But it does appear Mr. Bush has been outmaneuvered by House Speaker Hastert. Hastert is "making more explicit than he has before -- though it's been a general guideline for him -- he does not want to pass a bill unless it has majority support not only from the House overall but among the House Republicans," Los Angeles Times columnist and CNN analyst Ron Brownstein told me on Monday. There was enough Democratic support to have ensured its passage before Thanksgiving.
But could Hastert's "majority of the majority" policy backfire on the Republicans? Possibly.
Brownstein said that if Bush allows the "Hastert rule" to stand, issues like immigration reform -- where the president wants to create a system where illegal immigrants can get temporary work visas -- would fall short because of Republican opposition. Social Security reform could be affected as well.
"One of the clearest tests of leadership for a president is to, on occasion, go against his party. No one wants to do it," Brownstein said on Monday. "So I think the test for the president will be if he wants this bill and he can't work out a deal... will he ask them for an up or down vote on it?" In other words, will the president force congressional Republicans to turn to Democrats to secure passage?
Hamilton agreed that Bush's authority is "absolutely" on the line with this bill.
"The president has a lot at stake here. This is the first major test of his political clout after the election," Hamilton said on Inside Politics Monday. "He's said over and over again, 'I support this bill.' Now, if he fails to get that bill through, he has to be worried about the signal that sends about his own political clout with his own party. I think the Congress has a lot at stake. But aside from politics, what is really important here is the safety of the American people."
Republicans are expected to discuss the intelligence reform bill at a House retreat in Virginia this week, which White House officials will attend.
But, if Hunter and Sensenbrenner don't cave, it is possible the bill will not be brought to a vote at all.
Kean had a more grim prediction last weekend. "Congress will pass this bill," Kean said. "The only question is whether they will pass it before or after the next attack."
Judy Woodruff is CNN's prime anchor and senior correspondent. She also anchors "Judy Woodruff's Inside Politics," weekdays at 3:30 pm ET.
