Joe Lieberman: “I think Senator Nelson may want to respond also. It is my understanding that it is the clear intention of the sponsors…”

“I think Senator Nelson may want to respond also. It is my understanding that it is the clear intention of the sponsors of what I call the Morella-Nelson-Chafee-Breaux amendment that it supplement, not replace, existing language. I say to the Senator from Pennsylvania, this concern he expresses is real. This is a concern that does not go to the intentions of the sponsors of the amendment. I have not talked to him, but let us reason together how we can make clear in this legislation, in this amendment, what the intentions are. It is not to alter this. If I were to describe--and I stand to be corrected by the sponsors of the amendment--if I were to describe what the amendment does in this regard, regarding collective bargaining rights, it says to the approximately 43,000 to 47,000 currently unionized employees of various departments that will be moved to the new Department of Homeland Security--and remember, some of these people have worked for decades; some have worked for a few years--while the existing authority that this President, the previous President, all Presidents back to President Carter have had, to suspend collective bargaining rights in the interest of national security, these folks have continued to keep their jobs and be in unions because no previous President has believed that national security was inconsistent with their jobs being unionized…”