Congress moving slowly on new police powers, after quickly approving attack response

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Congress moving slowly on new police powers, after quickly approving attack response funds By MATT YANCEYThe Associated Press9/22/01 3:07 PMWASHINGTON (AP) -- Congress feels little urgency to grant President Bush new anti-terrorism police powers, a contrast to its speedy approval of money for relief efforts, the military, higher security and ailing airlines. Lawmakers already have sent Bush emergency measures totaling $55 billion in response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Passing new anti-terroism laws will take much longer. Attorney General John Ashcroft had asked for congressional action by this weekend. Instead he was called to testify Monday and Tuesday before the House and Senate judiciary committees on the need for the measures. House Majority Leader Dick Armey, R-Texas, has promised the Bush administration he will try to pass the least controversial elements by the end of next week. Those include harsher penalties for terrorists and those who harbor or finance them. But action on the administration's request to expand the ability of the FBI and other police agencies to wiretap the phones and computers of terrorists and to allow previously excluded evidence to be used in court is weeks -- possibly months -- away. "Congress will work with the president to do whatever is necessary to bring our enemies to justice as quickly as possible," House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt said Saturday. But he added a caution. "We will not adopt the characteristics of those who attacked us," Gephardt said. "If we begin to compromise the civil liberties of our citizens, the terrorists will have won." Lawmakers have shown much less reluctance to write checks covering the costs of the government's mobilization in response to the hijacked airline bombings in New York and Washington. On Friday, Congress added $15 billion for rescuing airlines to a $40 billion package approved a week earlier to help gear up the military, increase security and underwrite the search and recovery efforts. "This will help the airlines maintain short-term stability as they work toward long-term viability for the benefit of all the workers and companies that depend on air travel," President Bush said Saturday. The airline bill contains $5 billion in immediate grants to companies. Those funds will compensate the airlines for losses from the government-ordered grounding of flights and the subsequent drop in passengers following the Sept. 11 hijacked plane crashes. The other $10 billion offers loan guarantees to airlines pushed near bankruptcy in the wake of the terrorist attacks. Airlines are bracing for a steep long-term decline in passengers, as well as higher insurance premiums and increased security costs. Major carriers have announced cutbacks of 20 percent or more in service. Layoffs in the industry now approach 100,000. Airline executives seeking loan guarantees are barred from receiving pay increases for a two-year period if their current salaries are above $300,000. The bill also provides domestic airlines with war risk insurance for 180 days and allows the transportation secretary to reimburse air carriers for premium increases. Bush, meanwhile, is rushing out the first $5.1 billion of the $40 billion Congress approved a week ago. Half of it is going to the Pentagon to cover the cost of mobilizing a retaliation force to go after suspected terrorist Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network. Of the rest, $2 billion is for search and recovery efforts, aid to victims and debris removal at the Pentagon and the destroyed World Trade Center. Another $123 million is for boosting airport security and paying for sky marshals aboard some flights now. Meanwhile, action has been postponed on a tax-cut package aimed at preventing the terrorist attacks from plunging an already hobbled economy into recession. Both Bush and Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan have questioned whether the package would have its intended effect. Copyright