Homeland Security Agency Debate Ahead

The House votes this week on a compromise plan (HR-5005) to create a new Homeland Security Department out of some two dozen current agencies and subunits, but the process could be a difficult one given the wide variety of viewpoints among members and committees regarding which agencies should be in or out, and under what terms. A key point of disagreement is between those, mostly Republicans, who favor the White House’s proposal to give the agency great leeway in designing and operating its pay, promotion and other personnel rules and those, mostly Democrats, who prefer to leave intact the policies-notably including union rights–affecting the 170,000 or more potentially affected employees. The civil service provisions, and in particular the union rights issue, emerged as major points of contention as a special House panel crafted a plan to be brought to the House floor. Administration officials argue that the new agency will need greater leeway to declare certain jobs off-limits to unions on security grounds-although they say that authority would be used only sparingly. Federal unions, though, see such leeway as a serious threat.