The Democratic-sought amendment to the Homeland Security Bill failed today, much to the delight of Republicans. The bill is now final and appears destined for passage, even in this still democratically-controlled Senate.

"The Senate voted 52-47 to reject an amendment that would have removed from the bill seven provisions that Democrats said were favors to friends of Republicans. The president and his key advisers actively lobbied wavering senators to defeat the amendment, saying its approval could doom passage of the bill this year."

According to Bush's plan, the new agency will combine 170,000 federal workers from 22 existing agencies. It will be " the biggest federal government reorganization since Harry Truman created the Defense Department in 1947."

The bill is H.R. 5005 and you can read the text of it here.The bill creates a new cabinet position to deal with terrorism. Most democrats supported the idea of a new agency, but objected to last minute additions that favored big business, such as one which granted immunity to pharmaceutical companies for side-effects caused by their vaccines.

Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., leading opponent of the legislation, said, "It's the Senate's last chance to show the American people that we are serious about placing some controls on this massive new bureaucracy."

Here is our post on how a last minute addition could bring life in prison to hackers.

We are also dismayed that the Total Information Awareness program (TIA), a creation of retired rear Admiral John Poindexter, is still in the bill. The program, invented by John Poindexter, a rear admiral with a less than sterling record, would create a huge national database of all our personal records, from banking to credit card purchases and more. Poindexter justifies the program as a national security enhancement. We call it an assault on civil liberties.

You can read about the protest letter sent by 30 civil rights organizations to the Senate this week here. A quote from the letter:

"TIA will collect and mine vast amounts of information on the American public, including telephone records, bank records, medical records, and educational and travel data. TIA also proposes to connect with a massive system of biometric identification. There are no systems of oversight or accountability contemplated in the TIA project. DARPA itself has resisted lawful requests for information about the program pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act."

"We urge you to act immediately to stop the development of this unconstitutional system of public surveillance."