( The Legislative News-Dai lyfromCongressional Quarterly Defense Allies Push GDP-Tied Funds Democratsreject the idea, but GOPseesit asa focusof spendingdebate BY JOSHROGIN, CQSTAFFWRITER Pentagon officials,with the support of Republican lawmakers, are pushing a pro-posal to set a floor for military spending at 4 percent of gross domestic product. MajorityDemocratsroundlyreject the idea asout of sync with the nation's needs,anditisthereforenotlikelyto get much traction inCongress.But Re-publicans are expected to use rhetorical and parliamentary meansin the coming monthstomakethe GDP-based floora refrain inthedefensespending debate for fiscal2009 and beyond. As entitlement spending puts more pres-Jureonthe budget,and the warsinIraq and Afghanistan wind down, military lead-ers and their congressional alliesare con-cerned that competition for federal dollars will grow. 'Thisistheonly way wecanstopthe inexorable slide of national defense," said Rep. Trent Franks, R-Ariz., a proponent of the requirement. In December, Franks and Sen. Elizabeth Dole, R-N.C., introduced a joint resolution (H J Res 67, S J Res 26) that would require the defense base budget to equal4 percent ofGDP, at a minimum. Democratsandbudgetexpertscriti-cize the idea asfiscally irresponsible and Defensecontinued on page 33 McCain's View on Interrogation Carries Weight BY CATHARINERICHERT CQSTAFFWRITER Indeciding whether they willsupport inter-rogationlimitsinthe fiscal2008 intelligence authorization bill, mod-erateRepublicanswill look totheir front -run-ning presidential candi-date for guidance. However,Sen.John McCain,R-Ariz.,has nottakena leadership roleonthecontrover-sial provision,althoughMcCain did not bring up the interrogation issue at a GOP policy luncheon he haslong denouncedTuesday, and there was no indication he has been lobbying colleagues onit. andworkedagainst practices that he considers torture. Language in the conference report on the 1thorization bill (HR 2082) would require the CIA tofollow the Army handbook on interrogation tactics. The provision would essentially outlaw waterboarding,among other harsh measures . Senators arescheduled to vote to limit debate on the measure Wednesday morn-ing.Democraticleadersarecourting moderate Republicans- such asMaine's Olympia J.Snowe and Susan Collinsand Oregon'sGordonH.Smith- toboost their total to the required 60 votes. "When the intelligence authorization Intelligence continued on page 32 Product safety Pryor's bid to overhaul consumer protection agency is set for debate Report on page program, p. 8 Today's Hill schedule, p. 34 PULSE OF CONGRESS i & EDITEDBv GREG McDoNALD LL!J.I 11 , '"'lJ WITH A WEDDING on the Line, Could a Deal OnFISA Be Far Behind? . Nothingisgoingtokeepproud Speaker Nancy Pelosi from her daughter's Feb. 16 wedding in San Francisco. Notevenwranglingbetweenthe House and Senate over an extension of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (PL ll0-55). In fact,the wedding of Christine Pelosi -a Democratic National Committee member-to Peter Kaufman, son of mov-ie director Philip Kaufman,might speed accord on a final bill. "It'smyunderstandingthatthe Speaker has one of her children being married this weekend, so I don't think she'll be spending a lot of time around here,"SenateMajorityLeaderHarry Reid,D-Nev.,observed Tuesday,per-haps signaling that some sort of agree-ment on FISA may be near. The House plans to be in session Feb. 15, with final votes tentatively set for the afternoon.Minority WhipRoyBlunt,R-Mo., suggested that if a final deal can't be reached before the current FISA exten-sion expires that day,the House should stay in session into the weekend. But nobody believes that will be nec-essary with the Speaker's attendance at a wedding on the line. -Edward Epstein Pulsecontinued on page 11 Volume 44, Number 21 260414MNPDHDDCG20 JOE KEENAN SENATE PRESS GALLERY S316 SENATE RADIO-TV GALLERY WASHINGTON,DC 20510 I Page32 Intelligence continued from page 1 conference report comes to the floor to-morrow,Republicansshould joinusto supportonestandardof interrogation -as outlined in the Army Field Manual -for the entire government," said Ma-jority LeaderHarry Reid,D-Nev. "We want to abide by themanual because it works." Somemiddle-of-the-road Republicans said Tuesday that McCain'sstance on in-terrogationpracticeshasinformedtheir decision to support the legislation. ''I'm against torture," said Smith, who is voting forcloture on the bill Wednesday. "John's opinion on this matters a great deal tome." McCain joined his colleagues for their weeklypolicylunchTuesday,butdid not bring up the torture provision.And there wasno indication that he has been asking hiscolleagues to vote one way or another. GOP moderate Norm Coleman of Min-nesota said he was tom because he was wor-ried the provision is too broad. 'T m against waterboarding, but I don't think the Army manual is the way to do it," he said. One of McCain's closest political allies in the Senate, Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. , has opposed effortstoapply theArmyField Consumer continued from page 5 to eliminate the protection for information reported to us" because the current system encourages candor when firms believe they have a product-safetyproblem. State Powers According to the Democratic aide, sena-tors have agreed on the role state attorneys general should play in assisting CPSC. The original bill would allow state attor-neysgeneral more leverage to suemanu-facturersof dangerousgoodsonbehalf of state residents.Negotiators havesince opted to require that attorneys general fol-low a federal standard before acting. That is, a state can sue only if a product does not meet CPSC standards. TheNational Associationof Manufac-turershadargued thatthe originalpro-visionessentially wouldhaveformed50 mini-CPSCs,leading to inconsistent en-forcement of product safety regulations. Consumer groupssay the original pro-Manual to the CIA. "It would be a colossal mistake, "he said in December. "''ve been fully briefed on thecurrentCIAprogramtointerrogate high-valuetargets.It isaggressive,effec-tive, lawful and in compliance with our le-gal obligations. The Democratic provision will destroy the CIA program." TheHouseadoptedtheconference report inDecember.PresidentBush has threatenedtovetothemeasureif itin-cludes the current interrogation language. "If they want to get the bill vetoed, that's a surefire way to do it," said Minority Whip Jon Kyl,R-Ariz. McCain Key in Past Efforts McCain's stance on interrogation tactics isno secret.A former Vietnam War pris-oner who washeld in Hanoi and tortured for five and half years, he has long fought to tighten interrogation rules. He was instrumental in including a pro-vision in the 2005 Detainee Treatment Act (PL 109-148) that requires all Defense De-partment agencies touse the Army Field Manual ininterrogations,but whichdid not require the manual to be the rule for other agencies, including the CIA. McCain said at the time that the prohi-bition against cruelty was sufficiently clear for the CIA to devise its own rules to com-vision would have added another layer of protection for the public. "Ideally we want the attorney general to be another cop on the beat," said Rachel Weintraub, product safety director and senior counsel with the Consumer Federation ofAmerica. She said her group wants to see the state attorneys general "really filling in the holes" by en-forcing commission statutes and recalls. Meanwhile,committeemembersare working on a whistle blower provision. Pry-or's bill would allow any worker who comes forward with relevant information to get up to 25 percent of the civil penalties collected asa result of the violation: Aides said the senators have not reached a compromise. Krenik maintains that industry has found no examplesof personnel being firedfor providing information to authorities. Nord has argued against it, as well. "Thissweepingnew provision,"Nord wroteinOctober, "representsacolossal and wholly unfamiliar new mission for the CPSC." She added that "it would dramati-cally drain the limited resources of the com-CQToday, Wednesday, February13,2008 ply with the prohibition, without Congress having to mandate that it adopt Army guid-ance on interrogations. A Democratic Senateaidesaid leader-shipcould count onat least55votesfor cloture Wednesday, including Snowe.But Majority WhipRichard J.Durbin said he wasconcerned that a handful of key mod-erates would not go beyond McCain's 2005 language. "It'sastretchtoget60votes,"said Durbin, D-Ill. If Democrats can get enough votesfor cloture, they could also defeat a procedural move planned by Christopher S.Bond, R-Mo. , who said he would raise a point of or-der against the torture provision because it was not included in the original bill. Theprovision,writtenbyDianne Feinstein,D-Calif. , wasinitially debated and defeated by one vote in the Senate In-telligence Committee. But when Feinstein removed language that would allow Bush to waive the new mandate, conferees agreed to include the language in the measure. If cloture failsWednesday,approval of the conference report could be punted to early March, the aide said.+ Tim Starks, Greg Vadala, Kathleen Hunt-er,Patrick Yoest andJohn M.Donnelly con-tributed to this story. mission to the detriment of public safety." TheSenatebillisexpectedtopropose muchharsherfinancialpenaltiesagainst manufacturers offaultyproducts. Currently, such civil penalties are capped at $1.25 mil-lion. The House and Nord are backing an in-crease of up to $10 million. The bill calls for a $100 million limit, but senators have been negotiating and that figure likely will come down to roughly $20 million, aides said. The legislation has taken on new urgency because the commission recently lost the power to issue new rulesformanufactur-ers and take legal action against violators. Typically, three members are required for the commission to operate.The chairman resignedin thesummer of 2006, leaving the commission with only two members. In August of2007, Congress temporaril granted the agency permission to operat without a three-commissioner quorum (PL ll0-53), but that provision expired Feb. 2. Both the House and Senate versions of the bill would extend the commission's author-ity to operate without a quorum.+