Lawmakers Stay in Step With Bush

Nearly three weeks after the terrorist attacks jolted official Washington into extraordinary unity, Congress with few exceptions remains in sync with the Bush administration as lawmakers enter a critical period on their path to adjournment.

Typically, the first day of October marks a season of high partisan tension on Capitol Hill as legislators clash over bills they must pass before wrapping up for the year. Today is different.

The congressional agenda includes such important matters as the annual government spending bills, proposals to bolster counter-terrorism laws, defense and intelligence authorizations and the federal response to the stalled economy. Also pending are measures that might otherwise generate debate but now are receding from the spotlight, such as education reform and farm policy.

On all of those issues, solutions are at hand--or members of both parties are working quietly and earnestly toward them.

To be sure, discord can be heard. Some members of the House Democratic minority are up in arms over GOP efforts to push through a measure to grant President Bush “fast track” authority to negotiate international trade deals. In the Senate, a few determined members of the Republican minority are holding up action on a defense bill in an effort to force a vote on the administration’s energy plan.

But overall, bipartisanship has proved remarkably durable. On Sunday, for instance, Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), who before the Sept. 11 attacks had been a frequent critic of Bush, had nothing but praise.

“He’s handled himself masterfully well,” Schumer told CNN’s “Late Edition.” “I give him an A up and down the board right now.”

On foreign policy, lawmakers are backing up the president without hesitation. Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told NBC’s “Meet the Press” that he has been “surprised and pleased” at the Bush administration’s careful deliberations on the U.S. response to the attacks that destroyed the World Trade Center and damaged the Pentagon.

“They have been measured, they have been thorough, they have been patient,” Biden said.

That stands in marked contrast to Biden’s criticism of Bush’s foreign policy in a number of areas before Sept. 11. For instance, the Democrat denounced administration efforts to break the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty and build a national missile defense.

On counter-terrorism legislation, expected to be taken up in committee again this week, Biden and Rep. Henry J. Hyde (R-Ill.), chairman of the House International Relations Committee, both predicted that a deal would be struck. Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft has made several proposals to expand the ability of law enforcement to pursue terrorists, such as allowing “roving wiretaps,” which apply to multiple communications devices used by a specific individual, and greater authority to detain foreign nationals. The detention proposals, in particular, have met with deep skepticism on Capitol Hill.

But Hyde told NBC that there was talk of setting a seven-day limit on detentions. “That is under negotiation right now and probably will be shaped up to be satisfactory to almost everybody,” he said. Like Biden, Hyde is an influential lawmaker on judiciary matters.

Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (D-Conn.), on CBS’ “Face the Nation,” also predicted that Ashcroft would get most of the reforms he sought. “We have to trust the attorney general, the FBI, local prosecutors and local police,” Lieberman said. “They’re on our side.”

Democrats also were reading from the administration’s page on defense. Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, acknowledged on “Fox News Sunday” that he had temporarily set aside his quarrels with Bush on missile defense.

Asked how large the armed services would have to be to meet the terrorist threat, Levin said: “The size of the military may prove to be about right, but it’s got to be reshaped.” The services should be lighter and more lethal, he said, and he signaled that Congress would spend more money to make such a transformation happen. Those statements echo much of what Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld has been arguing all year.

A first step toward a reshaped defense is a bill that Levin, with Republican support, is shepherding in the Senate this week. It would authorize more than $343 billion in defense programs in fiscal year 2002, which starts today. First, Senate Democratic leaders must surmount an effort by Sen. James M. Inhofe (R-Okla.) to force a vote on a Bush-backed energy bill that passed the House last summer. A movement to thwart Inhofe by shutting down debate on the defense bill could come to a vote as soon as Tuesday.

In the House this week, votes are expected on a farm bill and on legislation to reauthorize national intelligence agencies. While details of the intelligence bill are secret, leading lawmakers left little doubt it was influenced by the counter-terrorism campaign. Rep. Porter J. Goss (R-Fla.), chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, who is co-sponsoring the legislation with Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco), said the bill would improve processing, research, development and analysis of intelligence both from agents on the ground and from radio, satellite and other high-tech communication sources.

“There are no ‘quick fixes,’ ” Goss said in a statement. “We remain united in our drive to work with the president and the administration to build an intelligence community that has the capabilities that the U.S. will need to defeat terrorism and protect our national security.”

The House and the Senate also might start moving annual appropriations bills to the White House. Negotiators were nearing a deal with the administration to spend $686 billion on discretionary programs in fiscal year 2002, which is $25 billion more than Bush had sought.