The homeland security authorization bill stalled last night, raising doubts about whether it will see action before Congress’ upcoming six week recess. The bill, sponsored by Christopher Cox (R-California), would strengthen the Department of Homeland Security intelligence and management functions. The recent impasse was caused by the absence of several Republican chairmen at the House Select Homeland Security Committee markup and disagreement among committee members on how to handle the more than 70 Democratic amendments. Cox split his bill into nine separate pieces of legislation to allow bits and pieces of it to progress through Congress and to marginalize the Democratic amendments. House parliamentary experts were called in for consultation last night in a closed meeting due to the lack of agreement over the relevance of amendments. After several hours of negotiations behind closed doors, committee members reached agreement on some amendments. Although several GOP chairmen on this panel have publicly said they see no need for a separate Homeland Security Committee, Cox would like to establish his select committee as a permanent panel in the next Congress.