Bush signs $4.3 billion bioterrorism legislation

WASHINGTON -- President Bush signed legislation Wednesday allocating $4.3 billion to protect Americans and their food and water from biological warfare.

"We're under attack; that's just the way it is," Bush told the first meeting of his Homeland Security Advisory Council.

It was a busy day for domestic security issues as Bush presided over the bill-signing ceremony in the Rose Garden, then addressed a get-acquainted meeting of the 16-member panel, a mix of business executives, academics and government officials.

Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge, meanwhile, met privately with around 200 lawmakers on the House floor for 90 minutes, fielding questions and objections to the president's plan for combining 22 agencies into a new Cabinet-level department for defending America against terrorists.

Many questions focused on whether the new agency should have greater authority over the CIA, FBI and other intelligence agencies, Ridge said afterward.

Ridge said "there is a great deal of interest" among lawmakers from both parties in ensuring that intelligence is shared and analyzed better than it was before Sept. 11. But Bush believes that can happen without moving the FBI and CIA into the new department, Ridge said.

Other questions focused on how the consolidation might affect commerce at the borders with Mexico and Canada and on how it would relate to state and local governments.

House Speaker Dennis Hastert and Minority Leader Richard Gephardt agreed Wednesday to form a special committee of six Republicans and five Democrats to handle the White House proposal.