Extremely brief update regarding the intelligence reform legislation (also known as the legislation to implement the 9-11 commission report):

Most of the anti-immigrant provisions of Title III of HR 10 were NOT included. However the following provisions ARE in the compromise bill:

1. increase in the number of Border Patrol agents by 2,000 agents a year for each of the next five years

2. increase in the number of Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) agents by 800 a year for each of the next five years

3. increase in the number of beds available for immigration detainees by 40,000

4. The Department of Homeland Security will be required to establish "minimum standards" for birth certificates and driver's licenses -- some have called this the first step toward a national ID card.

1. "increase criminal penalties for smuggling illegal immigrants and allow deportation of any non-American who received military training from a terrorist organization" (all words from the Post)

2. "require visa applicants to have in-person interviews"

________________________________

Excerpts from "House Approves Intelligence Bill":
Washington Post, Wednesday, Dec. 8, 2004
By Charles Babington

The House yesterday approved landmark legislation to restructure the nation's intelligence community, creating a director of national intelligence and a counterterrorism center to better coordinate government assets and avert the type of intelligence lapses that occurred prior to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

The House's 336 to 75 vote puts the long-debated measure on the brink of enactment...

[The Senate then passed the bill into law that day, 89-2, and adjourned the 108th Congress – Konrad]

Lawmakers concerned mainly about Pentagon prerogatives were assured that the defense secretary, not the director of national intelligence, would continue to control spy satellites and aircraft. But those mainly seeking crackdowns on illegal immigration fared less well, winning only House leaders' assurance that immigration issues will be taken up early next year.

In a 90-minute closed meeting of House Republicans yesterday morning, the chief advocate of putting more immigration restrictions in the bill – Judiciary Chairman F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. (Wis.) – implored colleagues to hold out for a better deal. But with Hastert, DeLay and others urging lawmakers to embrace the White House-supported bill, Sensenbrenner could prevent only 67 Republicans from voting aye. Democrats overwhelmingly supported the measure, with only eight voting no.

Several lawmakers said the Senate would have had serious reservations about the proposed immigration provisions, which might have scuttled the bill. Among Maryland's eight House members, all voted for the bill except Roscoe Bartlett (R). Among Virginia legislators, all voted aye except three Republicans who voted no: Jo Ann S. Davis, Randy Forbes and Virgil Goode.

The House vote and today's expected Senate action will save Bush from the political embarrassment of a Republican-controlled Congress rejecting a major bill he supports...After the Nov. 20 revolt by House Republicans, which surprised Hastert and the White House, the administration turned up the heat...."The president and the vice president's interventions with House members were absolutely key in moving this bill forward," said Susan Collins (R-Maine), the Senate's chief sponsor.

Although much of the recent debate focused on protecting Pentagon turf, several House Republicans said the fiercest resistance centered on immigration questions. The original House version -- drafted with no Democratic input -- included numerous provisions to keep undocumented foreigners from entering the country and to make it easier to deport visitors who overstay their visas or break laws.

Sensenbrenner repeatedly noted that the 19 hijackers of Sept. 11 had obtained multiple driver's licenses, which he said helped them open bank accounts and board planes. He urged the House to retain language that would require states to verify the legal status of non-citizens applying for driver's licenses.

Opponents, including businesses that rely on low-wage undocumented workers, state governments and civil liberties groups, said Sensenbrenner's proposal would require extensive scrutiny and national debate. In weeks of House-Senate negotiations over the intelligence legislation, the driver's license provision and others were dropped.

In yesterday's closed GOP meeting, several participants said, Hastert promised to include immigration provisions in a package of "must pass" legislation early next year.

Some members, however, said the promise might prove empty. The White House and Senate, they note, are much less receptive to sharp crackdowns on illegal immigration than are many House members. "There's a real lack of confidence that we'll get a bill to secure our borders," said Rep. Tom Feeney (R-Fla.).

The House vote was a victory for the Sept. 11 commission, whose hard-hitting 567-page report issued in July became a bestseller and spurred Congress to hold hearings and start drafting legislation. Commission Chairman Thomas H. Kean (R), a former New Jersey governor, and Vice Chairman Lee H. Hamilton (D), a former congressman from Indiana, lobbied the public and lawmakers to enact an overhaul this year.

Staff writer Walter Pincus contributed to this report.