Senate passes 9/11 bill

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by a 60-38 margin... but Bush has threatened to veto the bill because he hates labor unions.

Senate approves 9/11 bill

The US Senate approved Tuesday by a vote of 60 to 38 a sweeping homeland security bill meant to shore up US defenses against future terror attack.

But the measure faces a veto threat from US President George W. Bush, who objects to the bill's collective bargaining provision for airport screeners.

The bill enacts numerous recommendations of the blue ribbon September 11 panel, which examined the causes of the 2001 terror attacks on New York and Washington in its 2004 report.

Democratic lawmakers criticized Bush and his Republican allies for failing to adopt many of the commission's recommendations and had promised to implement the measures after winning a majority in the US Congress in last November's legislative elections.

"Preventing another 9/11 tragedy should be the highest responsibility of government," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (news, bio, voting record) said after the vote.

"Today, the Senate has taken another major step towards fully implementing the recommendations of the bipartisan 9/11 Commission. For too long, the Bush administration and a complacent Republican Congress ignored these critical homeland security improvements, and left our country less safe than it should be," Reid said.

"The American people have demanded change," he said.

Reid also called on the president to take back his veto threat.

"He and Republicans in Congress must not stand between the American people and the security they deserve."

The Senate legislation now must be reconciled with a House bill which contains similar union bargaining rights protections.

The White House objects to allowing airport screeners collective bargaining rights allowed most unionized workers, viewing the move as a potential threat to maintaining a high level of security in airports.