Scrambling to get out of town and out on the trail

Republican leaders in both chambers are quickly taking major pieces of legislation off the table as the deadline approaches for members to leave town.

With leaders planning to complete their regular session over the weekend, a House-backed measures establishing increased oversight of the National Security Agency’s (NSA) domestic surveillance program of terrorism suspects and the defense reauthorization bill both hung in the balance yesterday.

On the NSA issue, Republican leaders appear to favor a Senate-approved measure backed by the White House authored by Senate Judiciary Chairman Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) that would establish more lenient monitoring of the administrations’ surveillance program.

Republicans have made the issue a major plank of their election-year agenda.

House Majority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) told reporters yesterday that he still favors the House bill authored by Rep. Heather Wilson (R-N.M.), but he signaled that it might be too difficult to approve in both chambers before members leave town Friday.

“We are moving ahead with a House bill, but there have been conversations with the Senate about the chances of coming to an agreement on a bill, but I think that is a bit premature,” Boehner said.

Asked about the chance of passing that bill and conferencing it with the Senate before members leave town, Boehner said, “We would like to, but I think that might be a stretch.”

Congress has been scrambling to craft legislation to legitimize the controversial program ever since a federal judge in Detroit ruled that it is unconstitutional.

Specter’s bill would allow the program to continue largely as it currently exists by requiring a secret intelligence court with oversight of the Foreign Surveillance Intelligence Act to review the legality of the NSA’s wiretapping program.

Wilson’s bill would require NSA investigators to seek a warrant for the wiretaps within 60 days. It would also implement broader congressional oversight than Specter’s bill. A spokesman said Wilson, who faces a tough reelection fight this fall, remains committed to bringing her bill to the floor.

“At this point, Rep. Wilson’s focus is on bringing her legislation to the floor this week,” Wilson spokesman Joel Hannahs wrote in an email yesterday.

Further highlighting the security questions that have dominated the fall campaigns, President Bush ordered National Intelligence Director John Negroponte yesterday to declassify the entire National Intelligence Estimate on the worldwide terror threat following the U.S. invasion of Iraq after a series of damning news leaks over the weekend illustrated how the war has increased terrorist threats abroad.

Soon afterward, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) caught members off guard with her call for a closed session to review the estimate, which failed on the floor, 171-217.

Funding programs remain the primary focus this week as members look to conclude their work before the election.

Boehner said yesterday that leaders in the House hoped to complete both the spending and reauthorization bills for the military, even though the latter faces a sizable roadblock in the form of a defiant House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), who held a press conference yesterday demanding that the Senate include in that bill language easing the deportation process of immigrant gang members who are in this country illegally and legislation to bolster the security of federal judges.

A senior Republican leadership aide in the Senate said that chamber is expected to finish legislation establishing a legal framework to try suspected terrorists as well as annual spending bills for the departments of Defense and Homeland Security and legislation to build additional fencing and other impediments along the U.S. border with Mexico.

A senior Democratic aide in the Senate agreed that each of those bills would see a vote in both chambers before the members depart for the recess.

There was talk yesterday that leaders would combine the fencing bill with legislation to create legal guidelines for the military commissions in broad security package.

Both aides failed to mention the defense reauthorization bill, which hangs in the balance.

Other bills whose fates remain up in the air include legislation to open up the offshore site for coastal oil and gas exploration and a measure to revise national security reviews of foreign investors buying domestic companies.

“I think we’re still working with the Senate,” said House Majority Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), who is a principal backer of the latter legislation. “If we don’t [pass something this week], we can do something when we get back [at the end of the year].”

Republicans in the House will continue to highlight national security issues during the duration of this week and during the five-week work period leading up to the November midterms.

The Republican Conference office is organizing a series of press events this week to highlight the importance of the NSA’s domestic surveillance program and legislation creating a legal framework to try terrorism suspects.

On Thursday, House Republicans will participate in a “virtual” blog and radio row to highlight security issues, conference spokesman Geoff Embler said. The event is being deemed as only “virtual” because the conference office will provide radio microphones and computers so that the radio hosts and bloggers do not need to attend the event.

The office has just begun booking members for it, and already many of the elected leaders are expected to attend.

Later today, members also will receive their work kits for the district work period at the regular Wednesday morning conference meeting. The kits will include sections on national security and border security, Embler said. Some time next week members also will receive a pocket-guide of legislative accomplishments during the 109th Congress.

In addition, Republican Conference Chairwoman Deborah Pryce (R-Ohio) will send members a weekly memo every Friday during the recess reminding them to talk about the major political developments from the previous week. Pryce and her staff first introduced the Friday memo during the August recess.

Finally, the conference office will unveil a website, www.gop/waronterror.gov, to highlight talking points and other statistics about domestic security as it relates to domestic and international terrorism threats.