WASHINGTON – Much as the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks have defined President Bush’s first term, so too has that event made an unmistakable mark on the political career of Sen. Susan Collins, R- Maine.

Collins said this is the high point of her legislative career. “In terms of significance, this legislation ranks at the top,” she said after the Senate passed 96-2 the intelligence overhaul bill she had written and sponsored along with Sen. Joe Lieberman, D-Conn.

Now in the second year of her second term, Collins stood in front of a crowd of reporters moments after the Senate passed the bill that would dramatically alter the way the country’s intelligence community has been structured for more than half a century. It is a system she and others say utterly failed to prevent the attacks.

“This is really how the Senate should operate,” Collins said of the near-unanimous vote. “On an issue of such great significance to our country, we put aside partisan differences.”

Eyes now turn to the House, where the leadership has been criticized for sponsoring a controversial bill that departs in many important ways from the 9-11 commission’s recommendations.

Collins’ own bill did not have an entirely smooth road to passage. During the last two weeks, a handful of critics offered amendments to weaken the position of the national intelligence director, which the legislation would create. All were defeated, however, and shortly after 5 p.m. Wednesday, senators one by one congratulated Collins, including Armed Services Committee chairman John Warner, R-Va., who gave her a military salute.

Having the support of early skeptics like Warner, Collins said, “meant a lot to me.”

Once the bill hit the Senate floor last Tuesday, senators unleashed a torrent of amendments. So many amendments were proposed – over 250 at one point – that the Senate agreed early Tuesday to prevent new ones from coming to the floor.

Collins and Lieberman were successful in beating back virtually all of the “unfriendly” amendments.

Former New Jersey Gov. Tom Kean, a Republican and the chairman of the 9-11 commission, earlier praised Collins’ ability to keep the bill intact despite proposed amendments designed, in his view, to weaken its provisions.

“She’s fought off some amendments that were very destructive,” he said. “I can’t say enough good about her.”

The Senate Governmental Affairs Committee, which Collins chairs, ordinarily deals with less politically charged issues than intelligence reorganization, but legislation that created the Department of Homeland Security came through the committee as did Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge’s confirmation.

Collins said the whole process had been exhausting, in particular the final two weeks, when she was on the Senate floor virtually all day. In the evenings, she said, she would meet on the bill with other senators and often traded e-mail messages with Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., late at night.

Rep. Tom Allen, D-Maine, commended the Senate bill, saying it was created on a “relatively bipartisan basis” and faulted House GOP leaders for excluding Democrats. “That’s the big issue,” he said. He also criticized them for adding provisions that he said would weaken the position of the national intelligence director and undermine civil liberties.

Rep. Mike Michaud, D-Maine, echoed Allen’s sentiments. “I applaud the efforts of the Senate to move forward with a bipartisan intelligence reform bill that puts national security and real reform ahead of partisan political gain,” he said in a written statement. “Unfortunately, the Republican House leadership is using intelligence reform as a political tool to divide our country.”

Even so, Collins was optimistic that a deal could be struck. “I’m sure that the House will produce a bill that’s different from ours, but that’s what we have a conference committee for,” she said of the House and Senate negotiators who will have to reconcile the two bills. “I’m optimistic we’ll be able to work out those issues.”

Asked if the Senate’s passage of the bill would bring additional pressure on the more partisan House, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said that pressure from outside Congress might prove more persuasive.

“The White House is obviously very interested in us, in this bill. They’re not interested in extraneous provisions,” he said. “The White House does have some influence with the Republican-controlled House.”

The 9-11 commission concluded that the 15 military and civilian intelligence agencies had failed to cooperate and thereby precluded efforts that might have prevented the terrorist attacks on New York City and Washington.

It recommended creating the post of national intelligence director to control and coordinate all of the agencies, including budgetary control.

The Collins measure would establish that position but limit its control to nonmilitary agencies. It would also establish a national counterterrorism center.