Tom Ridge promoted Bush's proposed Homeland Security Department, which a House panel approved by a 5-4 vote last week. A Senate committee plans to consider its version of the bill Wednesday.
"I think there's great reason to be reassured that this country ... will do everything conceivable, everything humanly and technologically possible to preserve our way of life and our citizens," Ridge said. "But there's also that continuing sense of anxiety and concern and a recognition, a realization that the new threat of the 21st century is an enduring vulnerability, and I think America is to be commended for understanding that."
The measure approved by he House Select Committee on Homeland Security would give Bush most of the power and agencies he sought in the Cabinet agency. The department would have 170,000 or more employees and a $38 billion annual budget.
It would be the new home of the Coast Guard, Border Patrol, Customs Service, Secret Service, Federal Emergency Management Agency and the just-created Transportation Security Administration.
The bill goes to the House floor this week and then to the Democratic-led Senate.
In the Senate, a version of the measure released by Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., tracks closely with Bush's plan. It also would augment the agency's ability to gather and analyze intelligence from the FBI, CIA and others.
That bill is to be considered by the Senate committee Wednesday.
"There will be a lot of discussion and a lot of negotiation" when Congress takes its August vacation, Ridge said. "So I think there's still a lot of things on the table to be resolved."
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