WASHINGTON -- House Democrats, delivering on a major campaign promise, used their new majority Tuesday to push through a bill that would write into law several remaining recommendations of the Sept. 11 commission.
The measure includes more than a dozen initiatives such as tightening cargo security and distributing anti-terrorism grants based more on risk than on a political formula.
The vote put Republicans in a difficult spot. They opposed major elements of the bill, saying they went beyond panel recommendations and would be prohibitively expensive without significantly aiding security.
But after failing to delay action on the bill, many Republicans felt they had no choice but to vote in favor of it -- and 68 of them did so. The measure passed on a 299-128 vote.
The effort faces an uncertain future in the Senate, and the Bush administration opposes major parts of the bill.
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The legislation includes no formal estimate of its cost, but it clearly would be in the billions of dollars.
One of its most far-reaching provisions would require that all air cargo on passenger jets be inspected for explosives; at present, only high-risk shipments are inspected.
The bill also calls for the United States to develop, with other nations, an agreement on how to handle detainees of the Iraq war or counterterrorism efforts, and for creation of a new federal coordinator of efforts to prevent the spread of weapons of mass destruction.
And it would require that Transportation Security Administration workers be subject to the same labor rules as other federal workers, perhaps allowing them to unionize.
