The House has already approved its version of the annual defense policy bill, but without the contentious provisions added by the Senate yesterday. Acting House Majority Leader Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) spoke favorably yesterday about Warner's resolution, suggesting that the requirement for quarterly reports to Congress could showcase what he called "the good news" from Iraq. But he would not endorse the provision, saying House members will have to discuss it further.
Armed Services Committee Chairman Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.), who will be the House's chief negotiator, hinted at conflicts to come.
He suggested that the McCain measure, which would codify and restrict interrogation methods, may be redundant because a 1994 law declared that torture is illegal and, in the case of a prisoner's death, can be a capital offense. He also voiced concern that civil lawsuits by detainees may be "empowering terrorists." The Senate measure approved yesterday would curtail such suits but would grant suspected terrorists access to a federal appeals court.
As for the Senate's new reporting requirement, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld noted that the Pentagon and the State Department already send "literally dozens of Iraqi-related reports to Congress each year," including monthly classified updates on the Iraqi security forces. Given the gravity of a war, Rumsfeld said, Congress has "every right to ask for reports."
The White House has complained that McCain's language dealing with prisoners is too broad, and has threatened to veto any bill containing it.
The Senate also attached a bipartisan measure on the legal rights of detainees by a vote of 84 to 14. Lawmakers agreed to strip suspected terrorists of broad access to the federal courts while granting them the right to appeal military trial verdicts to civilian judges.
The agreement was worked out Monday by Sens. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.), Carl M. Levin (D-Mich.) and Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), who hope a bipartisan consensus will swamp any opposition in the House or from the administration. Advocates hope to make final passage of the defense policy bill contingent on the inclusion of the Graham-Levin language on detainee legal rights and the McCain provision on torture and abuse.
The one objection to the compromise came from Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter (R-Pa.). He denounced the measure as "untenable and unthinkable," because he said it would eliminate Supreme Court jurisdiction over the legal treatment of detainees.
Last week, Graham won narrow Senate approval of a harsher amendment that would deny detainees in military prisons such as Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, virtually all access to federal courts -- access that had been granted by the Supreme Court. But Graham decided to compromise with Levin, hoping to win broader approval.
The final version would grant detainees sentenced to death or at least 10 years in prison an automatic review by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. The court would be able to determine guilt or innocence or the constitutionality of a military trial. Detainees given lesser sentences could also petition the court for a review.
Staff writers Peter Baker in Kyoto and Ann Scott Tyson in Washington contributed to this report.
Chris Cillizza provides daily posts on a range of political topics, from the hottest House and Senate campaigns to scrutinizing the 2008 presidential hopefuls.
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