Daschle bows to unions on homeland security

This side of their outrageous treatment of the president's judicial nominations, few issues have been more revealing of the way the U.S. Senate is being run than their treatment of the president's proposal to create a new Department of Homeland Security.

The House passed a version of the bill months ago. Senate progress has been held up for months as Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle refuses even to permit a vote on this crucial cornerstone of the nation's wartime effort.

The sticking point, with the elections just days off, is union politics, union money and union power. Should President Bush have the power to move personnel around, to hire and fire as needed to guarantee our security? Or should he be hamstrung by collective-bargaining negotiations and incredibly burdensome work rules that will seriously harm our vital security right here at home?

All presidents have possessed this power, the very power that Tom Daschle, Jean Carnahan and Hillary Clinton now seek to deny this president in the new department. In this issue there is this irony: The president has this power in all the other departments: Housing and Urban Development, the Interior Department, the Environmental Protection Agency, etc. -- but not, if Senate Democrats have their way, in the new Department of Homeland Security!

Unions, including government unions, have their place in America's fabric. That place, however, doesn't include dictating policy during wartime in a transparently self-interested manner. Some version of the president's proposal should pass -- minus Tom Daschle's incredible sell-out to the unions who finance his campaigns.