Partisan snit erupts at H.R. 10/S. 2845 conference

Congressional Quarterly - October 20, 2004 -- 11:15 amPDT

After hours of speeches proclaiming bipartisanship, the initial House-Senate conference on an intelligence overhaul bill (S 2845) nearly came unglued when Rep. Peter Hoekstra, R-Mich., chairman of the group, attempted to make a chairman's draft the starting point for discussions. Democratic conferees bristled. "We couldn't possibly contemplate doing that on the Senate side," said Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV, D-W.Va. Sen. Bob Graham, D-Fla., suggested the House come back with a series of amendments to the Senate bill, "so we can see where you have differences ... take a vote, and move on to the next area." Hoekstra said in response, "We have not decided or agreed yet what will be the base bill in the conference." Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, finally urged her colleagues not to "over-react" to Hoekstra's proposal. "This is an initial discussion. It will be bipartisan, it should be bipartisan." Ultimately, Collins, Hoekstra, Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman, D-Conn., and Rep. Jane Harman, D-Calif., agreed to try to put together an initial draft.

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