Military

DATE=9/21/01

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=CONGRESS / TERROR RESPONSE (L ONLY)

NUMBER=2-280865

BYLINE=DAVID SWAN

DATELINE=CAPITOL HILL

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

/// EDS: TIMING OF VOTES ON AIRLINE BAILOUT NOT CERTAIN -- UPDATE INTRO AS NEEDED FROM CN-WIRE ///

INTRO: The U-S Congress is moving quickly to bring emergency aid to America's airlines, whose business has slumped dramatically after last week's airborne terrorist attacks. V-O-A's David Swan reports this is another example of the unusual bipartisan response to the crisis.

TEXT: Because hijacked passenger planes were used in the terrorist assault in New York and Washington, the airlines have borne the brunt of the financial turmoil that followed. Ticket sales are down sharply while new security procedures raise costs. As a result, the

major carriers have slashed their flight schedules and laid off tens of thousands of employees.

Senate Republican Leader Trent Lott says Congress must step in to keep the damage from rippling further throughout the shaken economy.

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We're determined to do what's necessary to be helpful to this industry, which is a key leverage component (a pivotal part) of our economy. And for us not to act I think would not be the responsible thing to do.

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The bill includes five-billion dollars in direct aid and ten-billion in loan guarantees. An earlier bill provided three-billion dollars to strengthen security at the nation's airports. However, Majority Leader Tom Daschle says the task of making the airlines safer has just begun.

/// DASCHLE ACT ///

There is also of course a very, very big concern about addressing the need for greater security. Most people in my caucus - almost every one of them - said "you're never going to get the airlines back economically until people are confident they can fly securely."

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President Bush's decision to form a new Office of Homeland Security is being praised by both parties. However, some Senate Democrats would create a separate post to oversee counter-terrorism and pull together the government's various anti-terrorist functions. Intelligence Committee Chairman Bob Graham would also make it easier for law enforcement authorities to keep watch on terrorist suspects.

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It is more cumbersome to get a wiretap against a foreign individual operating in the United States for purposes of espionage or terrorism than it is to get a wiretap for a garden-variety criminal enterprise.

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There are disputes over how far these surveillance powers and other measures should go. But the lawmakers' new spirit of cooperation still appears to be carrying the day in what is normally a sharply partisan Congress. (Signed)

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