The US Senate today followed the House of Representatives and approved the
Intelligence Reform and Terror Prevention Act of 2004.
The bill grew out of the report by the 9-11 Commission, which called for sweeping changes.
And as NHPR Correspondent Priscilla Huff reports, the Granite State's delegation voted with the majority.
Compromise was the key ingredient to get the intelligence reform bill passed.
NH's Junior Senator John Sununu.
SUNUNU - 8 seconds
I think this final agreement on the intelligence
reform bill will enable us to move forward with
changes that are very much necessary
TRACK
The compromise helped push the bill through the House of Representatives Tuesday evening.
Before that the bill had been stalled.
But the 2nd District's Charlie Bass was not one of those lawmakers holding it up.
BASS
I was willing to vote for the earlier version.
TRACK
But, Bass believes, the delays were helpful.
BASS - 22 secs
First of all, I think two weeks has made a difference in terms of members ability to really have the time, that they're entitled to review the bill, to talk it over with constituents talk it over with each other and work out any questions of concerns that have not been addressed by the fact that it was pushed through in a rather speedy fashion.
TRACK
The Legislation has been called the most major reform of the nation's intelligence gathering infrastructure in 50 years.
In essence, The bill combines control of 15 spy agencies.
It also intensifies aviation and border security and allows more wiretaps of suspected terrorists.
The Bush Administration has been lobbying hard for the changes.
But he ran into some large stumbling blocks, most notably the Chairmen of some of the House's more powerful committees.
For example the Chair of the Judiciary Committee, Representative James Sensenbrenner wanted to include language to change immigration policies.
And he won critical support from from fellow conservative Republicans.
The 1st District's Jeb Bradley admitted in a
statement, that he is disappointed Sensenbrenner's immigration reforms were NOT included in the final bill.
Representative Bass disagrees.
BASS 15 secs
Sensenbrenners concerns are justified, but this is not an immigration bill, this is an intelligence
reorganization bill and I think the congress should
take up immigration and take up a full scale debate, starting from ground zero.
TRACK
Concerns about intelligence for the military also held up the bill's passage.
Representative Bradley feels without a key compromise on the flow of information to troops on the ground, the legislation would have been a disservice to those soldiers.
And his colleague Bass agrees
BASS 20 secs
* Although the language changes in the bill are are very subtle, they none the less give the military
commanders peace of mind concerning the level of
responsibility that they would have to accept based
upon the level of intelligence that they require and
accept.
TRACK
In the end, while Majority Leader Bill Frist predicted the bill would pass the Senate easily, it was conservative House Republicans that remained opposed to the final compromise.
However, Senator John Sununu sees good things coming out of the legislatoin.
SUNUNU -16 secs
We have a lot of intelligence gathering organizations and individuals and technology spread around the country and around the world. and I think this bill will enable us to better bring that legislation together to serve the President of the United States and to serve the national security apparatus.
TRACK
If this bill had failed to pass, the President would have suffered a major political blow.
The legislation was based on the recommendations of the 9/11 commission.
The President can now rest easy.
He plans to sign the bill as early as next week._
\For NHPR News, I'm Priscilla Huff in Washington.
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