February 15, 2008

FISA Fight Spills Over Into Recess

President Bush and Republican congressional leaders today charged that House Democratic leaders put the nation at risk by failing to move legislation renewing the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

"By blocking this piece of legislation, our country is more in danger of an attack," Bush said following a meeting at the White House with GOP leaders. "By not giving the professionals the tools they need, it's going to be a lot harder to do the job we need to be able to defend America."

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., said the president's claims of imminent danger were overblown because Bush would still have authority to allow eavesdropping on suspected terrorists after the law expires at midnight. "A wide range of national security experts has made clear that the president and our intelligence community have all the tools they need to protect our nation," Hoyer said. He called Bush's remarks "wrong, divisive and nothing more than fear-mongering."

Hoyer met this afternoon with House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, D-Mich., House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Chairman Silvestre Reyes, D-Texas, and Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., to discuss options heading into expected House and Senate negotiations on a compromise.

Bush has insisted that the House move the Senate-passed bill that protects telecommunications companies against lawsuits stemming from their cooperation with the administration's earlier warrantless wiretapping program. Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell made a similar argument in a Washington Post op-ed this morning. A two-week extension of the law ends at midnight and Bush refused to agree to another temporary extension.

In a letter to the White House yesterday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid criticized the president for threatening to veto anything other than the Senate-passed version. "You bear responsibility for any intelligence collection gap that may result," Reid said.

Bush and the GOP leaders asserted that the telecom companies need assurance of protection against past litigation to guarantee their future cooperation with the government. House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, said further extensions of the law would play into the hands of Democrats who want to scuttle the legislation and would chill cooperation by the phone companies.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said Republicans would talk up the issue in their home states during next week's recess. "I think this will be the biggest story through the recess," McConnell said. He accused Democrats of being in bed with attorneys who are among their biggest contributors. "We think it's a lot more urgent to protect the country than it is to protect the trial bar," he said.

-Keith Koffler, CongressDaily, with Christian Bourge and Ben Schneider contributing

Posted at 3:20 PM
Posted to: Bush Administration, Congress, House, President Bush, Senate, Terrorism
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