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A Senate panel on Thursday delayed action on a bill to overhaul the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, setting up a showdown on the highly contentious measure on the eve of lawmakers’ Thanksgiving recess. Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) said he would delay Thursday’s markup until next week to mollify Republicans’ complaints that they had not had enough time to review the measure, which would impose new oversight on the Bush administration’s warrantless wiretapping program. Leahy is planning on making changes to a bill that the Intelligence Committee approved by a 13-2 vote last month. The panel had planned to mark up part of the bill Thursday and address the more controversial provisions next week. The outcome of next week’s debate will elevate the issue of national security and privacy rights along the presidential and congressional campaign trails when Congress takes a two-week break over Thanksgiving. Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has signaled he wants the chamber to vote on the bill when the Senate returns in early December. An administration-backed interim bill — which Congress quickly approved in August despite strong concerns from the Democratic base — expires in February. The Intelligence Committee bill includes a controversial provision that would provide retroactive immunity for telephone companies that allegedly participated in the secret wiretapping program after the Sept. 11 attacks, provided they show that they received authorization from the government. The Judiciary Committee appears to be at loggerheads on the issue. At the beginning of a Judiciary Committee meeting Thursday, Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) said he was still wary of giving blanket immunity to the telephone firms, arguing that litigants should have “their day in court.” Specter said he was “saddle-sore” at the White House and Vice President Cheney for repeatedly balking at his requests to see documents explaining why telephone companies should be immunized from lawsuits. The White House relented and allowed the committee to review the documents last week. Specter is working on a plan to have the government be the defendant in lawsuits facing telephone companies. But both sides appear entrenched in their positions. Sen. Orrin Hatch, the Utah Republican, said he would “completely resist any changes” to the telecom immunity provisions that the Intelligence Committee approved. Leahy and other Democrats on the committee oppose retroactive immunity for the telecoms and will attempt to strike the language next week. But two Democrats on the panel — Dianne Feinstein (Calif.) and Sheldon Whitehouse (R.I.) — voted for the Intelligence Committee bill with the immunity provisions. About 40 lawsuits nationwide are targeting phone companies for allegedly giving away private information on U.S. citizens. But the companies say they were only acting in the interest of national security and had been assured by the White House that their actions were legal. Privacy advocates and their Democratic allies say that if the White House and companies did nothing illegal, they should not be shielded from lawsuits. |
