Collins lauds homeland security bill

WASHINGTON – Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said Wednesday that legislation passed by the Senate this week to give state and local governments new weapons to stop terrorists intent on destruction within U.S. borders completes the job that she and her co-sponsor, Sen. Joseph Lieberman, a Connecticut independent, undertook after the Sept. 11 Commission reported its findings to Congress.

The bill approves $3.1 billion in each of the next three years for first-responder grants to the states while adjusting the formula on how the money is divided among high-risk states and states less vulnerable to terrorist attacks. Of that, $1.3 billion is specified for high-risk urban areas.

Tuesday’s Senate vote was 60-38.

But more than five years after the Sept. 11 attacks, the bill still faces considerable hurdles. Differences remain with legislation the House passed in January, and the White House threatened a veto over a provision to give airport screeners limited bargaining rights.

The new Democratic majority made the legislation one of its most urgent tasks, saying it was long past time to carry out the July 2004 recommendations of the bipartisan 9-11 commission formed after the 2001 attacks.

“Our bipartisan bill … will make further improvements to homeland security that will help make our nation safer,” Collins said Wednesday. “Our bill is a broad-front attack on the threats we face and will ensure good value for every dollar our nation spends to improve our defenses at the federal, state and local levels. It also strikes a balance between increased security and our cherished civil liberties.”

Collins said she’s disappointed that the “bill includes an unrelated and controversial provision to provide airport security screeners with collective bargaining rights, which many homeland security experts believe would weaken our national defenses, and which could very well lead to a veto.”

She said a compromise she proposed that would have given whistle-blower protections and other safeguards to Transportation Security Administration workers “unfortunately was not included” in the final legislation.

“It is my hope that if the president vetoes this bill as he has indicated he will do, the leadership will come to agreement on an alternative manner in which to move these provisions, which are crucial to strengthen our homeland security,” Collins said.