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Washington, D.C.— The head of the union representing employees of a key federal agency that would be shifted into a new Department of Homeland Security today expressed her puzzlement as to why the administration won’t accept compromise language offered in the Senate that provides the personnel flexibilities the White House has been seeking.

An amendment offered by Democratic Sens. Ben Nelson (Neb.) and John Breaux (La.) and Republican Sen. Lincoln Chafee (R.I.) is modeled on the very same personnel flexibilities Congress granted to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in 1998.

“The model in use at the IRS is being held up as an example of the personnel flexibilities the administration wants in the new department,” said NTEU President Colleen M. Kelley. “I cannot understand why the administration doesn’t recognize this very same model in the Nelson-Chafee-Breaux amendment.”

In recent days, Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge and Rep. Rob Portman (R-Ohio)—the author of the IRS personnel flexibilities legislation—have both referred to the IRS when speaking of the flexibilities they believe are necessary for the Department of Homeland Security.

The Nelson-Chafee-Breaux amendment provides human resource flexibilities in the areas of pay, performance appraisal, classification and adverse actions while maintaining collective bargaining and Merit

System Protection Board Appeals (MSPB) procedures under Title 5 provisions of the Civil Service Reform Act.

“This is, in fact, even broader language than that in use at the IRS,” Kelley said. “I urge the administration to take a second look at this amendment, accept the language, and return its focus to the very important task of continuing to protect our nation as federal employees in the Customs Service and elsewhere have been doing long before and after Sept. 11.”

Kelley reiterated her view that the Nelson-Chafee-Breaux amendment is the “best compromise available” for moving forward on homeland security legislation.

NTEU represents nearly 12,000 employees of the U.S. Customs Service, who are among the 170,000 federal workers from some 22 agencies and departments who would be transferred to the Department of Homeland Security.