Susan Collins: “I do. The Senator from Virginia has put it very well, and I am eager to craft legislation--and believe we have done…”

“I do. The Senator from Virginia has put it very well, and I am eager to craft legislation--and believe we have done so--that would give the Secretary the flexibility he needs for the Department to have an efficient, effective, and fair personnel system for the civilian employees. I note, however, that the Department has some 700,000 civilian employees. So we need to make sure we are doing this in an appropriate manner. Some of the provisions submitted by the Secretary go far beyond the authority that we gave to the new Secretary of Homeland Security. So we are looking at it, and we have come up with draft legislation language that we are sharing and have been sharing with the staff of the Senator from Virginia and with other interested parties. My hope-- it may be a vague hope--is that we could have a consensus document that would provide bipartisan support and the support of some of the employee organizations. I don't know whether that is going to be the case. But that certainly is my hope. If I might make one other point, I simply point out the obvious to all of us--that this legislation is the train moving through at this point in time. The probability of its passage by the Chamber is quite high. These provisions, as the Senator says, are of great concern to those groups, whether they are union or other groups, that act on behalf of the very courageous and wonderful cadre of civilians without which we couldn't have a defense.”