October 18, 2007

FISA: House Pulls Bill; Senate Strikes Deal

While the Senate Judiciary Committee was grilling President Bush's nominee for attorney general yesterday about some of the most controversial counterterrorism policies supported by his predecessor, leaders of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence were working with members of the Bush administration to find common ground on one of those policies: the National Security Agency's domestic surveillance program.

Senators reportedly reached a deal with the administration yesterday that would grant immunity to telecommunications companies who cooperate with the NSA's efforts under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Bush, who in a press conference yesterday urged Congress to expedite the renewal of the surveillance law temporarily approved in August, had made the lack of protections for telecoms a deal-breaker. Earlier this week the White House issued a veto threat if Congress failed to make that concession.

But while there was progress on the Senate side of negotiations yesterday, the House was thrown into tumult when its version of the bill [PDF] was brought to the floor of that chamber. After initially reporting that Democrats were optimistic about their chances of passing the bill without the concessions Bush had asked for, CongressDaily (subscription) reports this morning that "Republicans made a last-minute procedural move that appeared to split Democrats," forcing the Democratic leadership to pull the bill from the floor.

Pete Hoekstra, the ranking Republican on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, predicted earlier in the day that Congress would eventually yield to the president and grant immunity for telecom companies. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer made a similar prediction last week.

Posted at 7:38 AM
Posted to: Bush Administration, Congress, House, President Bush, Senate, Terrorism
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