In a legislative victory for President Bush, the Senate has overwhelmingly approved a bill to establish a Cabinet-level homeland security department. The Senate vote on Nov. 19 was 90-9. The measure, which Bush had called his top priority in the lame duck session, next goes to the President's desk for his signature.
Bush hailed the Senate's action as "an historic and bold step forward to protect the American people." He also said the reorganization laid out in the bill would be the biggest since the 1940s, when President Truman proposed merging the Depts. of War and the Navy into a new Dept. of Defense.