House Bill Backs Additional Reforms From 9/11 Report

Ranking Republican Rep. Peter T. King (N.Y.), whom Thompson replaced, called it a "missed opportunity."

The Sept. 11 commission report focused heavily on reorganizing the U.S. intelligence community and congressional oversight, the global dimension of terrorism in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and elsewhere, and the threat of weapons of mass destruction. Domestic recommendations focused on border security, transportation security and protection of critical infrastructure.

The GOP-controlled Congress acted on many of those findings, including targeting terrorist travel, consolidating watch lists and securing commercial aviation. But many of the other changes stalled, such as attempts to set up a biometric border entry and exit system, establish secure ID documents for all Americans and develop plans to protect key private-sector targets.

While the House considers its legislation, the Senate's homeland security panel plans to hold a hearing today on the status of commission recommendations and expects to vote on a bill by the end of the month, said a spokeswoman for the committee's chairman, Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (I-Conn.).

But the Senate has opposed some of the key proposals in the House bill, such as reducing grant funds awarded to all states in favor of those most at risk, and it is unclear how much the new Democratic majority will alter that stance.

Michael O'Hanlon, a security analyst at the Brookings Institution, said House Democrats' embrace of their interpretation of the Sept. 11 commission's recommendations was designed to make a political point of swift action, not necessarily to make the best policy.

"I don't understand why we have to assume that everything that came out of the 9/11 commission is accurate and it should be axiomatic that the House should approve everything they proposed," O'Hanlon said.

Michael Greenberger, a University of Maryland law professor who heads the Center for Health and Homeland Security there, praised House Democrats for taking on the proposals but said they will have a tough time convincing many of their colleagues in the Senate.

"It's a very aggressive proposal, more aggressive than I would have thought," Greenberger said. "I wouldn't be optimistic that it will all make it through the Senate, but I'm surprised it got this far."

Staff writer Karen DeYoung and staff researcher Julie Tate contributed to this report.