The pressure will be intense on members of Congress tomorrow to quickly pass measures said to expand the Justice Department’s reach in fighting terrorism. But while it wants to appear to be taking action against the attacks last week, Congress has no need to rush these measures through and would do better to debate the specifics and make sure any changes it does make are not later overturned.

Congress should be in no rush because it has already passed a resolution authorizing President Bush to use “all necessary and appropriate force” against any nation, organization or individual either directly involved in terrorism or found to have harbored terrorists. Attorney General John Ashcroft has outlined a reform package that includes expanded use of wiretaps to individuals instead of to specific telephones, criminalizing the act of contributing to terrorist groups and increasing the penalties for harboring. Given the president’s announced intention to make no distinction between terrorists and those who help them, all of the attorney general’s concerns should be covered in the present situation.

That does not mean, however, that these changes are needed only for the extreme circumstances of last week’s attack. They may well become part of the range of methods used by the federal government to combat terrorism. But that is all the more reason that Congress should consider each component of the Ashcroft package carefully, both with respect to civil liberties and to what the courts might say about them. As Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, recently pointed out, the last thing the nation needs at some future time is to capture terrorists, put them on trial and have them found guilty, then have the convictions overturned because of constitutional questions.

The Senate considers itself the world’s greatest deliberative body; there’s no need to turn it into a rubber stamp on this issue.

.

Just as Congress will be pressured to swiftly approve anti-terrorism measures, it will soon face a pro-economic package that will also need to be addressed with care. President Bush sent the right signal this week that he was willing to change his position and look again at economic stimulus given the events of the last week.

Some actions will gain immediate support, such as a bailout of the airlines, expected to cost somewhere between $25 billion and $40 billion. While Congress should describe in detail the kinds of airline losses it would be willing to cover, the fact that the federal government ground all planes and established restrictions once it allowed them back in the air strongly suggests compensation is in order.

Congressional debate, however, is unlikely to be about airlines and instead focus on, from Republicans, a cut in the capital gains tax and elimination of the corporate alternative minimum tax or, from Democrats, an advance tax refund to the 35 million Americans who pay only payroll taxes and did not qualify for the first tax break. It won’t take long for politicians to angle for political gain over this issue. But squabbles would be counterproductive at this point, and probably, some combination of cuts could give businesses the break they feel they missed in the current refunds, put some cash quickly into the hands of consumers and provide Congress with an opportunity to show it is as unified in this issue as it is in fighting terrorism.

After a first-day gulp, the stock market looked healthier yesterday, suggesting that traders believe the market fell as far as it needed to Monday. An encouraging sign. There is always a question of whether Congress can really do anything to rescue an economy headed for recession, but in this case, it is a fair guess that strong bipartisan support for carefully crafted legislation will do more to rally confidence than any short-term political win would.