Senate passes homeland security bill

? The Senate voted decisively Tuesday to create a Homeland Security Department, delivering a triumph to President Bush and setting the stage for the biggest government reshuffling in a half-century as a way to thwart and respond to terrorist attacks.

The final vote was 90-9, belying bitter clashes that pitted Congress against the White House and the two parties against each other and prolonged work on the legislation for nearly a year. Eight Democrats and independent Sen. James Jeffords of Vermont voted “no” as Congress neared adjournment for the year.

The new Cabinet-level department will merge 22 agencies with combined budgets of about $40 billion and employ 170,000 workers :quot; the most grandiose federal reorganization since the Defense Department’s birth in 1947.

Even so, it will take months for the new agency to get fully off the ground. And a budget stalemate continues to block most of the extra money for domestic security enhancements both sides want for the federal fiscal year that began Oct. 1.

The House overwhelmingly approved the bill on Nov. 13, so the Senate vote was the crucial, final test. Because of technical changes the Senate made, however, the House is expected to provide final congressional approval Friday with an anticlimactic voice vote.

Senators cleared the way for the final vote by rejecting, 52-47, a Democratic bid to block provisions that will aid vaccine producers and other industries. That vote came after Republican leaders made last-minute concessions that ensured support from four moderate senators.

The Senate plans to meet for a last time this year today but will not consider legislation.

In their final cluster of roll calls Tuesday night, senators sent Bush a bill making the government the insurer of last resort for terrorist attacks, with a maximum annual tab to taxpayers of $90 billion. The vote was 86-11.