Negotiators reach deal on intelligence bill

WASHINGTON -- Congressional negotiators reached a deal Monday with the chief House Republican opponent of legislation revamping the nation's intelligence agencies, clearing the way for a final vote, a House GOP leader said.\nThe development came as President George W. Bush pressed Congress for swift action, saying the legislation was "important for the security of our country."\nRep. Deborah Pryce, R-Ohio, chairman of the House Republican Conference, said House Armed Services chairman Duncan Hunter struck a deal with Senate and House negotiators that will remove his objections to the bill.\nHouse Speaker Dennis Hastert had refused to move the legislation before Thanksgiving because of objections from GOP chairmen like Hunter and House Judiciary chairman James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis.\nSensenbrenner remained opposed to the bill, but House Republicans will likely meet Tuesday to discuss moving forward anyway, Pryce said.\nRepublican and Democratic aides, speaking on condition of anonymity, also told The Associated Press a breakthrough had been reached, although final language had yet to be crafted.\n"We're very close and very optimistic," said a Hunter spokesman, Harald Stavenas.\nThe development came as Bush prodded Congress to finish work on the sweeping legislation reorganizing the nation's 15 intelligence agencies under a single national intelligence director.\nAt the White House, spokesman Scott McClellan said, "We feel very hopeful that this legislation will get passed this week. ... We believe we can get it passed this week."\nDemocratic senators also said Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., had told them compromise language had been reached.\n"I think it will bring enough House Republicans on to cause Speaker Hastert to feel confident to bring up the bill," said Sen. Bob Graham, D-Fla., a former Senate Intelligence chairman.\nEarlier Monday, Bush pressed Congress to finish the bill.\n"I believe we've addressed the concerns, by far, of the majority of the members of both the House and the Senate," Bush said, speaking during an Oval Office meeting with Iraq's interim President Ghazi al-Yawer. "It's a good piece of legislation. It is a necessary piece of legislation. It's a piece of legislation that is important for the security of our country."\nDemocrats in the House and Senate say the bill to overhaul the intelligence community would pass if Hastert, R-Ill., brings the compromise up as the GOP-controlled House returned Monday for a year-end wrap-up.\nHastert refused to bring the bill to a vote before Thanksgiving because of objections from Hunter and Sensenbrenner.\nAside from the intelligence bill, the House must put the final touches on a $388 billion spending measure that was not completed when lawmakers left town before Thanksgiving.\nHunter has expressed concerns that the intelligence realignment could interfere with the military's chain of command. He wants the bill to ensure that the Pentagon retains direct control over the agencies that operate the nation's spy satellites and analyze that information for troops on the battlefield.\nThe bill's supporters say it would not interfere with those operations.\nSensenbrenner wants the bill to address illegal immigration and what he sees as loopholes in the system.\nIf lawmakers fail to pass an overhaul this year, they'll have to start from scratch next year. With the new Congress in January, bills that failed to pass in the current session expire and new lawmakers and committee leaders would have to consider any new legislation.