(The following article by Eric Lipton was posted on the New York Times website on January 10.)
WASHINGTON — Delivering on a major campaign promise, House Democrats used their new majority Tuesday to push through a bill that would write into law several remaining recommendations of the Sept. 11 commission.
The measure includes more than a dozen initiatives like tightening cargo security and distributing antiterrorism grants based more on risk rather than on a political formula.
The vote put Republicans in a difficult spot. They opposed major elements of the bill, saying they went beyond panel recommendations and would be prohibitively expensive without significantly aiding security.
But after failing to delay action on the bill, many Republicans felt they had no choice but to vote in favor of it — and 68 did. The measure passed 299 to 128.
House Democrats said the rapid vote reflected their commitment to eliminating important vulnerabilities that remain in the nation’s antiterrorism programs.
“Our first and highest responsibility as members of this Congress is to protect the American people, defend our homeland and strengthen national security,” said Representative Steny H. Hoyer, Democrat of Maryland and the House majority leader.
The effort faces an uncertain future in the Senate, as some Democrats have expressed concerns that the bill’s mandate on inspecting ship containers may be unreasonable. The bill says that before any United States-bound ship container leaves an overseas port, it must be checked for radioactive material that could be used to build weapons.
The Bush administration also opposes major parts of the bill.
The legislation includes no formal estimate of its cost, but it clearly would be in the billions of dollars.
One of its most far-reaching provisions would require that all air cargo on passenger jets be inspected for explosives; now only high-risk shipments are inspected.
The bill also calls for the United States to develop, with other nations, an agreement on how to handle detainees of the Iraq war or counterterrorism efforts, and for creation of a new federal coordinator of efforts to prevent the spread of unconventional weapons.
And it would require that Transportation Security Administration workers be subject to the same labor rules as other federal workers, perhaps allowing them to unionize.
Republicans said that 39 of the commission’s 41 recommendations had already been adopted — a claim Democrats do not accept. They also said that many of the bill’s provisions did not reflect changes explicitly called for by the panel.
“I hope the 9/11 families do not give you a pass on this,” said Representative Phil Gingrey, Republican of Georgia, who called the bill an overtly political measure.
But the Democrats called each section essential. “Hurricanes Katrina and Rita reminded us all again how unprepared we all are to deal with catastrophe whether caused by nature or terrorist attack,” said Representative Bill Pascrell Jr., Democrat of New Jersey.
Senator Joseph I. Lieberman, independent of Connecticut, who held a hearing Tuesday as the Senate prepared for its version of this bill, noted that one major recommendation — not in the House measure — was strengthening Congressional oversight of intelligence and counterterrorism efforts. “We found it a lot easier to reform the rest of the government than we did to reform ourselves post-9/11,” Mr. Lieberman said. “That’s unfinished work.”