11.   Bush was even more blunt in assessing the struggle to sell the new department in a speech in Des Moines, Iowa, on Friday.

12.   But Bush said Ridge could testify about the need for a new department.

13.   But even at the fund-raiser, Bush took the opportunity to pressure members of the House and Senate to move quickly on his new department.

14.   But he said he still wanted to work across party lines to create the new department.

15.   But if a new department is created without costing money and adding more people, it would be counter to Washington history.

16.   But many businesses said it was hard to tell how the new department would affect their day-to-day operations.

17.   But Republicans also say that the new department will at least show that the White House took decisive steps and did not sit by waiting for something to happen.

18.   But the proposal under consideration does not offer outlines for the new department.

19.   Card said that when he and the president discussed what to include in the new department, they examined the primary mission of the agency involved.

20.   Congressional reaction to the broad idea of a new department has been almost universally positive.