Senate banking panel speeds defense production bill to floor

With a long stay forecast for U.S. forces in Iraq and an interminable war on terrorism, the Senate Banking Committee renewed legislation on Tuesday that steps up the president's power to speed production of war materials and sent the bill to the floor.

Without a whisper of dissent, the committee adopted an amendment by Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, that would include "critical infrastructure"-such as reconstruction of power plants and vital transportation facilities-as deserving priority consideration in case of terrorist attack. Then the members, by acclamation, approved a five-year reauthorization of a law that was first enacted in the Korean War.

The law gives the president authority to cut through military procurement rules to ensure rapid delivery of war supplies, equipment and services to the troops.

The legislation expires at the end of this month, so Congress is expected to take it up before then and enable the Defense, Homeland Security, Commerce and Energy departments to unplug any bottlenecks that might slow the war effort.

"The [legislation] allows these agencies to allocate contracts and re-prioritize contracts to meet emergency requirements," said Committee Chairman Richard Shelby, R-Ala. "It also provides authority to these agencies ... to work with private industry to ensure they have the industrial capabilities required to meet national security requirements that economics alone would allow to atrophy."

Bennett's amendment, which drew strong support from ranking Democrat Paul Sarbanes of Maryland, would update the old Defense Production Act to take into account the new threat of terrorism on the domestic front. Shelby said the "emergence of terrorism" has become a "central focus" of the nation's security planning, and requires attention to the protection of "critical infrastructure."