TOPICS
TOPICS
Senate takes up spying powers bill without immunity deal
The Senate on Monday voted 76-10 to begin debate on legislation that would limit the Bush administration's anti-terrorism spying powers, as lawmakers and aides scrambled behind the scenes to prepare amendments and find common ground.
The Senate agreed to take up a bill approved by the Intelligence Committee to overhaul the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. A competing bill approved by the Judiciary Committee will be offered as an amendment during floor debate.
Significantly, the Intelligence measure would give telecommunications companies retroactive legal immunity for helping the Bush administration spy on U.S. citizens without warrants dating back to September 2001. The Judiciary bill does not include any protections for the companies, which face about 40 civil lawsuits.
Intelligence ranking Republican Christopher (Kit) Bond of Missouri called his panel's measure "an extremely delicate arrangement of compromises" that "won't become law" if many changes are made to it. He noted that a temporary law to overhaul FISA expires in early February, creating a tight timeframe to conference a final bill with the House.
The White House supports the Senate Intelligence measure and has threatened to veto a competing bill pushed through by House Democrats.
Sens. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., and Russell Feingold, D-Wis., led an unsuccessful effort to prevent the Senate from beginning debate on the Intelligence measure. "The bill is deeply flawed and I am very disappointed by the decision to take it up on the floor rather than the better bill reported by the Judiciary Committee," Feingold said.
Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said he expects debate on four amendments and hopes to seek a vote on final passage Tuesday.
Senators and their aides on Monday were in behind-the-scenes negotiations on several amendments. Bond and Intelligence Chairman John (Jay) Rockefeller, D-W.Va., were trying to reach agreement on two issues. An aide said one issue focuses on making changes to language that would require the Bush administration to get a court warrant in order to conduct surveillance against a U.S. resident traveling or living abroad.
The other issue focuses on softening a requirement under which the administration would have to keep records and report to Congress every time the communications of a U.S. resident were intercepted.
Republicans want to allow the administration to discard records that are irrelevant to terrorism investigations.
Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said he would make some changes to his panel's measure and then offer it as an amendment. Dodd said he would offer an amendment to strike language giving the telecom companies retroactive legal immunity.
Rockefeller said he would join forces with Leahy to push language requiring all provisions in the FISA bill to expire in four years.
In a related matter, Reid on Sunday sent Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., a letter asking for every senator to be given access to key legal documents concerning the telecom companies' role in warrantless spying activities.
COMMENTS
- True, Dan, the US judiciary does not have jurisdiction outside the US. This is precisely the reason the administration chose Guantanamo and bases in Turkey to hold the “war criminals”. Criminals and terrorists they may be, but such a deliberate and calculated circumvention of US law by the CIC is/was amazing to witness. It appears he anticipated the illegality of his directives. “…the Intelligence measure would give telecommunications companies retroactive legal immunity for helping the Bush administration spy on U.S. citizens without warrants” If these wiretaps were concerned with only non-US citizens OR those they suspected of collusion; I would readily agree IF the authorities requested a warrant from the FISA court. Such citizens would probably be very few in number (an assumption I readily admit and pray true) cutting down the number of warrants needed to be requested; but there would still exist an oversight capability, someone without a vested interest to guard the guards. The original rules stated the warrants needed to be obtained within three days of the actual surveillance. Unfortunately, the wiretaps are the least of our worries, for to do what the feds want to do (at this time, i.e. prevent terrorism both domestic and abroad), they would need much more than we hear of. For instance the bombing in Oklahoma; to have prevented it without an informer, the authorities would have needed the sales records of all nitrate based fertilizer, all cash and credit transactions, and telephone and internet communications of all possible conspirators BEFORE the attack. Only then would they have been able to have stop Tim McVeigh and Terry Nichols. And such intelligence would require nation-wide constant surveillanc, and data mining only dreamed of in a despot’s mind; nothing less would be sufficient. Another goal of the administration, interdiction of all terrorism support funds, would require the gathering and tracking of all financial transactions, both electronic and hard currency. Finances, materials, personal connections, Big Brother on the phone and computer with you; one can only pray that their attention would stay on terrorism, for where would they turn their attention next? ANYWHERE they wish, for the tools and kitchen-pass would already be in place. Tip off Posted December 19, 2007 3:54 PM
- Another food fight, US courts don't have any jurisdiction on a US abroad so why would intelliegnce community need its approval. Think about it how would these folks know who is and who isn't a US citizen when they are listening, its just dumb. As for the telecom companies the US gave them blanket immunity and now Dodd and Finegold want to pull it back. Think Dodd would be better off back in the local bars harassing the waitresses dan ketter Posted December 18, 2007 1:16 PM
