The decision as to whether to push for a reconciliation between the House and Senate versions of the 9/11 Intelligence Reform bills is in the hands of Sen. Bill Frist. The two versions may be too far apart to realistically expect a unified version before the November 2 election. Nonetheless, Frist wants negotiators to start working on a compromise right away. The Senate has named its negotiators:

Frist on Monday appointed GOP Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, George Voinovich of Ohio, Norm Coleman of Minnesota, John Sununu of New Hampshire, Pat Roberts of Kansas, Mike DeWine of Ohio and Trent Lott of Mississippi to serve as the Senate GOP negotiators.

Democrats chose Sens. Joseph Lieberman, Carl Levin of Michigan, Richard Durbin of Illinois, John Rockefeller of West Virginia, Bob Graham of Florida and Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey. The House has not yet named its negotiators.

Both chambers say they want to create a national intelligence director before the election, but the House decided to also include additional government anti-terrorism powers, including some additional barriers against illegal immigration, inside its legislation that the Senate had rejected to consider as part of its bill. House leaders say they will insist on their provisions because they think their bill is better.

The Senate bill is S. 2845, and the House bill is H.R. 10. You can access both at Thomas.

As to the provision of H.R. 10 that would have allowed the deportation of alien criminals and terror suspects to countries that might practice torture, the Washington Post reported: