Homeland proposal up in air

President Bush's plan to reorganize the federal government with the creation of the Homeland Security Department has stalled due to a dispute over union membership and other protections for federal employees who will work there.

Although the legislation moved quickly through the House, the Senate has not been able to reach an agreement about the rights of 170,000 workers who would move into the new department from various agencies, including the Customs Service, the Immigration and Naturalization Service and the Coast Guard.

Bush wants more flexibility in managing those workers, including removing them from unions if they are involved in homeland security-related work. However, the Senate has resisted such changes.

With only a few days left until the Senate recess, lawmakers said Oct. 1 that it was extremely unlikely that Congress would complete work on the legislation before the November elections.

"The bill's on a life-support system," said Sen. Fred Thompson (R-Tenn.).

The reorganization would be the biggest for the federal government since 1947 — when the War Department was renamed the Defense Department — and would limit the power of some agencies in their traditional roles.

Sen. Zell Miller (D-Ga.) said the public would have some very tough questions if another terrorist attack were to occur and the United States did not have the department in place. "There's going to be a lot of second-guessing," he said. "Why? Why in the world did you put workers' protection above the protection of American lives?"