October 10, 2007

Bush To Dems: Don't 'Take Us Backward' With Surveillance Bill

The debate over electronic surveillance in the war on terror is rearing its ugly head again this week, two months after Congress' quick (and temporary) fix before the August recess. That law is set to expire in February, bringing lawmakers and the White House back to the negotiating table to hammer out new guidelines.

Yesterday, the New York Times reported that Democrats were poised to extend the federal government's ability to spy on foreign communications in the service of combating terrorism and would not impose as many restrictions as they hinted at back in August. But as predicted, President Bush and Republican members are still raising objections to some of the oversight proposals Democrats have made.

In a brief appearance on the South Lawn this morning, Bush criticized the Democratic-sponsored bill introduced in the House today, called the RESTORE Act [PDF], saying it would "take us backward.... My administration has serious concerns about some of its provisions," he continued, "and I am hopeful that the deficiencies in the bill can be fixed."

In his brief speech, the president outlined three criteria the bill would have to meet in order to garner his approval:

"It must give our intelligence professionals the tools and flexibility they need to protect our country. It must keep the intelligence gap firmly closed, and ensure that protections intended for the American people are not extended to terrorists overseas who are plotting to harm us. And it must grant liability protection to companies who are facing multibillion-dollar lawsuits only because they are believed to have assisted in the efforts to defend our nation following the 9/11 attacks."

Soon after his remarks, however, the House Judiciary Committee failed to adopt the last criterion Bush proposed, as it rejected an amendment that would have provided telecommunications firms with retroactive protection against lawsuits for participating in the National Security Agency wiretapping program. CongressDailyPM reports (subscription) that Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee, which is also marking up the surveillance bill today, were similarly "confident that the leadership's bill would withstand attacks from Republicans."

The Judiciary Committee passed the bill, which is also expected to make it through Intelligence.

But there are hints that a final bill will have shields for telecom companies. AP reported yesterday that House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., "said providing the immunity will likely be the price of getting President Bush to sign into law new legislation extending the government's surveillance authority." According to CongressDaily, moderate Democrats are hoping for a compromise on that issue as well.

In his remarks today, Bush did sound a note of bipartisan optimism: "My administration will work with members of Congress from both sides of the aisle to reach an agreement on a bill that will allow us to protect our country."

The Hill, CongressDaily (subscription) and Wired have more details on the Democrats' proposal and the administration's reaction. And back in August, The Gate parsed the "known unknowns" of the wiretap program.

White House photo by Chris Greenberg

Posted at 3:42 PM
Posted to: Congress, House, President Bush
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