Democrats in the U.S. Congress have proposed a compromise with Republicans and the White House to allow homeland security legislation to pass through a Senate evenly divided on the issue, the New York Times reported today (see GSN, Aug. 16).

The compromise would allow the president to deny collective bargaining rights to employees of the proposed homeland security department in the event of a national security emergency.  It includes, however, a right for department workers to appeal to the Federal Labor Relations Authority.  The compromise satisfies many Democrats concerned about the president’s power to suspend worker’s rights, but it falls short of White House demands, the Times reported.

President George W. Bush yesterday restated that he would veto any bill that did not include the president’s unconditional right to remove the union status of federal employees.  Citing the delay in passing the legislation, Republican lawmakers accused Democrats of putting union rights ahead of national security.  Democrats, in turn, faulted the White House for not proposing any compromises of its own.

In a move that could help the bill’s progress, Senator Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.) dropped his proposal yesterday to include an Office of Combating Terrorism (see GSN, Sept. 3).

The Senate is currently evenly split on the issue, creating the possibility that Vice President Dick Cheney could cast a tie-breaking vote on the bill.  Democrats have said they hope that Republicans engaged in tight re-election races will support the compromise in an effort to appeal to labor voters (David Firestone, New York Times, Sept. 17).

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