WASHINGTON — The lame-duck congressional session due to begin Monday is President Bush's last chance this year to win passage of legislation putting a single director in overall charge of the nation's 15 intelligence agencies.
Two House committee chairmen blocked the bill last month, despite appeals from the president for their support.
Although the leaders of the bipartisan Sept. 11 commission have warned that failure to pass the bill now will leave the nation vulnerable to terrorist attack, both opponents and supporters of the legislation say that only the president's forceful intervention can ensure its passage.
At a White House bill-signing ceremony Friday, Bush told House and Senate members that he was working on it as hard as he could, Sen. Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) told reporters afterward.
Bush intended to address the stalled measure in his regular radio address this morning and also would send a letter to congressional leaders supporting the bill, White House officials said.
Aides said House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) would probably bring the bill to a vote only if the White House had worked out language that satisfied House Armed Services Committee Chairman Duncan Hunter (R-El Cajon) and Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. (R-Wis.), chairman of the Judiciary Committee.
Any changes would have to be acceptable to Senate negotiators. Hunter has said he fears the bill could jeopardize the military's access to intelligence during times of war. Sensenbrenner wants the bill to address illegal immigration issues.
The House's primary reason for returning to work Monday is to repeal a controversial provision in the $388-billion spending bill it passed last month that would allow appropriations committee members and staffers to look at tax returns. The Senate has voted to strip the controversial provision from the spending bill, and it is unclear what business the Senate will take up if there is no agreement on the intelligence measure.
The uncertainty surrounding the intelligence bill has elevated what could have been a routine congressional housekeeping session to high-stakes political theater.
Congressional sources said the White House had significantly beefed up its lobbying in the past 72 hours, with Vice President Dick Cheney and Chief of Staff Andrew H. Card Jr. taking over the negotiations and fashioning new language meant to address Hunter's concern that the Defense secretary retain control of combat-support intelligence agencies now housed within the Pentagon.
