GOP senator: Bush pushing for intelligence bill
From Ed Henry
CNN Washington Bureau
 |  President Bush plans a "full court press" for the intelligence bill, Sen. Susan Collins said. |
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 CNN's Ed Henry reports on the pressure to pass intelligence reform.
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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A top Republican senator said Thursday that President Bush is launching a "full-court press" to get wavering Republican lawmakers to support the stalled intelligence reorganization bill.
Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said that senior White House adviser Karl Rove called her early Thursday to stress that the president considers finishing the legislation during next week's lame-duck session of Congress an urgent matter.
"It is clear that the White House is working very hard to get this bill through," Collins said. "There is a full-court press on."
The bill would implement many of the recommendations made by the independent bipartisan commission that investigated the September 11, 2001, attacks.
Collins, the lead Senate negotiator on the legislation, said the president and Vice President Dick Cheney also have stepped up phone calls to lawmakers.
"I believe that the president is working very hard to make very clear to members of Congress that this bill is a priority for him and that he expects us to complete action on it before the end of the year," said Collins, who heads the Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs.
Some Republicans have suggested in recent days that Bush had not been pushing hard enough to get a deal on the legislation, which would create a new post of director of national intelligence.
"If we don't have a vote on September 11 legislation, it will be my feeling that the president didn't weigh in strong enough," Rep. Chris Shays, R-Connecticut, said Tuesday.
Shays was referring to House Speaker Dennis Hastert's refusal to schedule a floor vote on the legislation because of objections from two powerful Republicans, House Armed Services Chairman Duncan Hunter, R-California, and House Judiciary Chairman James Sensenbrenner, R-Wisconsin. (Full story)
Collins said Thursday that she believes Bush is determined to get a floor vote in the House of Representatives next week.
"I am convinced that the president is doing everything that he can to advance this bill and to ensure that it has a vote next week," she said.
A House Republican leadership aide, however, stressed that no decisions on whether to move forward will be made until next week.
Collins said one idea being floated to break the current logjam is to give Sensenbrenner a commitment that congressional leaders will bring provisions he insists should be in the bill -- on tighter immigration controls -- to a separate floor vote next year.
But Sensenbrenner has long resisted such a proposal, saying that his measures must be attached to the broader legislation to get his support. (Full story)
