Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said Friday that he will try to get a telecommunications immunity provision stripped when the Senate takes up the FISA rewrite.
"I'm going to try real hard to have a separate vote on immunity,'' Reid said on Bloomberg TV. "Probably we can't take that out of the bill, but I'm going to try."
A FISA rewrite including immunity passed the House earlier Friday, outraging several House Democrats, including House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers (D-Mich.) who called the bill "unacceptable."
House Democratic leadership supported the bill's passage.
The House passed a rewrite of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, 293 to 129, that includes retroactive immunity for telecommunications companies.
The outcome is considered a win for the White House and loss for liberals.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers (D-Mich.) expressed his displeasure, calling the result "unacceptable."
"Every American deserves their day in court, and we deserve to learn the truth about the President
Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas) compared former White House press secretary Scott McClellan to Judas Friday, saying McClellan sold out "the president and his friends for a few pieces of silver."
Smith also took a shot at committee chair John Conyers (D-Mich.) for holding the hearing.
The farm bill has completed its long, strange trip into law.
The final touches came Wednesday, when the House and Senate for a second time overrode President Bush's veto of the farm bill.
The House voted 317-109 to override Bush's veto, issued earlier in the day. A few hours later, the Senate followed with a 80-14 vote.
The additional votes were necessary because of a clerical error in the House. When the House and Senate initially approved the bill in May, the official "parchment" copy sent to the White House omitted one of the measure's 15 titles.
As a result, the bill initially vetoed by the president was not the full version of the bill approved by Congress. The error was not discovered until after the House had already voted to override Bush's veto.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers (D-Mich.) sent a letter to former White House adviser Karl Rove's attorney Monday making clear the committee expects Rove to testify at a July 10 hearing investigating the federal prosecution of former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman (D) on bribery charges.
"We want to reemphasize that we expect Mr. Rove to attend the hearing," Conyers wrote, pointing out he had not yet received and formal objection to Rove appearing.
Conyers reiterated that the committee would not accept an arrangement that Rove testify on Justice Department politicization in general but not on the Siegelman case specifically.
"Accordingly, we hope and expect that Mr. Rove will appear on July 10, when any objections to specific questions on executive privilege or other grounds can be dealt with appropriately," Conyers said.
Rove has been accused by Siegelman and others of orchestrating federal prosecution against the former governor in order to gain political advantage. At the time of his prosecution, Siegelman was the leading Democrat in Alabama.
Siegelman served some of his prison term, but is now out on appeal.
The White House Office of Administration will not have to release details about millions of missing emails, a federal judge ruled Monday.
The AP reported Monday that U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly ruled that the White House Office of Administration does not have to comply with a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request made by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington to release information on the missing emails.
The judge ruled that the Office of Administration has no authority to compel another executive office to release information, even though the office had complied with all FOIA request made until the White House changed the policy in August 2007.
President Bush, in his European farewell tour, is voicing regret for making statements about his foreign policy that he believes were misinterpreted.
Bush was asked to name the positive and negative aspects about his eight years as president in an interview on French television Thursday.
"Well, you know, I think that people will say he's a decisive person who took action when necessary to protect his country and to address the problems of the world," he said. "Bad points are probably sometimes my rhetoric was a little -- was misunderstood. I mean, I can remember saying, you know, 'Dead or alive,' which sent -- it sent signals that could be easily misinterpreted."
When Bush was later asked by France 3 TV's Christian Malar whether he thought that the United States would still be a superpower 10 years from now, Bush stressed the need for maintaining strong relations with China, Russia and India.
"I would rather define us as a very influential nation that is willing to work with others to achieve common objectives," Bush said. "You mentioned those three nations, and my approach has been to have strong bilateral relations with all three. We've got strong bilateral relations with China, even though we differ on issues. I've had strong bilateral relations with Russia, a lot of it having to do with my personal relationship with Vladimir Putin. We've had our differences, but nevertheless, we found a lot of common ground to work together on, including Iran. And in India, I've changed the relationship between India and the United States in a way that we're partners as opposed to, you know, being antagonistic."
He continued: "And therefore, if the United States is active diplomatically in maintaining good bilateral relations with these countries, I think we'll still be in a position to use our influence for the common good. And these relationships don't have to be antagonistic. They can be -- I've worked hard to get to know these leaders individually so that we can be able to discuss matters, delicate matters, in open and honest ways, without rupturing relations. And I hope it serves as a go-by for future Presidents, that you can have disagreements, but you don't have to have this kind of zero-sum attitude about life."
The House passed a bill Monday that would offer Secret Service protection to Vice President Dick Cheney as well as future vice presidents, for six months after they leave office.
"The upcoming change of administrations, not to mention the current threat level, make permanent statutory authority for the Secret Service to provide such protection even more timely," Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) told the Associated Press.
Previous former vice presidents had traditionally received protection for six months after their terms ended, but no law required the Secret Service to provide it.
The Senate has yet to take the bill up.
Starting with President Bush, future ex-presidents and their families will get protection for up to 10 years after leaving the White House. Every president before Bush received lifetime protection, a benefit changed by Congress in 1997.
Most Viewed RSS Feed »
