Lame-duck Senate may act

WASHINGTON -- President Bush said Tuesday the creation of a Homeland Security Department is the "single-most important business" before the lame-duck Congress, and summoned lawmakers to the White House for private arm-twisting sessions.\nAs the House and Senate began what will be an abbreviated postelection session, some lawmakers were expected to join in the president's push to end a Senate stalemate over the proposed agency. Democrats, who will control the Senate for a little while longer, have fought Bush in connection with labor rights provisions of the bill.\nA defiant Bush said he will not sign a bill unless it gives him authority to lift labor rights in response to a national emergency.\n"I will not give up national security authority at the price of creating a department we badly need," he said after touring the operations center of the District of Columbia Police Department.\nAs both sides considered potential compromise, Bush said he was confident the lame-duck session will create the new department.\n"I believe we can get this done. I believe Congress can show the country that they can finish their work on a high note of achievement," the president said.\nLater, Bush was to sit down to a White House strategy session with House and Senate Republican leaders and, separately with Dean Barkley, the interim senator from Minnesota, to try to win his vote.