House rejects Senate spy agency overhaul

The House voted 203-213 to reject the measure that was based on a bipartisan bill backed by Sept. 11 Commission members that overwhelmingly passed the Senate earlier this week.

House Republican leaders defended their version of the bill, which likely will be approved on Friday, saying it addresses the problems laid out by the commission, which found major failures in US intelligence before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks against the World Trade Center and Pentagon.

"The policies set forward in the bill before us are so obvious, so self-evidently necessary that most Americans would probably be surprised to learn that they aren't already on the books," said House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, a Texas Republican.

The House bill has come under criticism from civil liberties groups who say some of its law enforcement and immigration provisions go beyond recommendations made by the commission.

"House Republicans are once again wrapping themselves in the flag, in 9/11 to hide the fact that they are loading up this bill with provisions that will not make us safer but will undermine our civil liberties," said Rep. Jerrold Nadler, a New York Democrat.

With national security a major issue in the Nov. 2 presidential and congressional elections, House and Senate leaders have been pushing to pass their respective bills before lawmakers break on Friday for final weeks of campaigning.