Democratic and Republican lawmakers praised President Bush and his administration for the efforts that led to China's agreement to return 24 crew members of the spy plane that collided with a Chinese jet fighter.

"Patience pays off," Rep. Porter Goss, R-Fla., chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said Wednesday. "I think that the signals are pretty clear that mission one, which is to get the troops back, has been well handled by the administration."

Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada, the No. 2 Democrat in the Senate, added his own praise for President Bush's handling of the matter.

"I've been saying all along that he and (Secretary of State) Colin Powell were doing a good job," Reid said.

Among those cheering the administration's handling of the delicate situation was Sen. Max Baucus of Montana, the Senate Finance Committee's top Democrat and a leader of the fight to normalize trade relations with China.

"This successful outcome was due largely to careful and thoughtful negotiations that recognized the importance of a pre-existing relationship between the United States and China," Baucus said. "Had it not been for elements such as a normalized trade agreement with this country, the outcome could have been far different."

Goss rejected criticism from some conservative activists that America had been humiliated by the holding of the U.S. crew members and Bush's statements of regret and sorrow for the loss of the Chinese pilot and his plane.

"This is not a humiliation for the United States," said Goss, a former CIA clandestine service officer. "If we get our troops back ... this means the sole superpower in the world, that has to deal with all the problems around the globe, has worked a very good solution to a friction point that's bothering a large sovereign nation. I don't think we've been humiliated. I think we have shown extraordinary leadership and strength and patience."

Goss said he did not yet have all the facts about what intelligence may have been lost but he praised the crew members' efforts to destroy secret information.

"These folks did an extremely good job under extremely difficult circumstances and it appears that they minimized any possible compromise to the greatest degree possible," Goss said. "Having said that, if other people have equipment that we normally treat as classified, then obviously we've lost something."