Wiretapping battle heats up on Capitol Hill

WIRETAPPING BATTLE HEATS UP ON CAPITOL HILL
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Walter Alarkon]
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) urged President Bush on Wednesday to support a one-month extension of an interim foreign-intelligence surveillance law that expires on Feb 1. In a letter to President Bush, Sen Reid wrote that it is doubtful the Senate can pass its update of the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) by the expiration date. The House passed a Democratic-written bill last fall. Democrats and the White House are at loggerheads over whether to include in the bill immunity for the telecommunications companies that complied with the government’s warrantless wiretapping programs after Sept. 11, 2001. They also disagree on whether once again to require Congress’s reauthorization of the program. The House bill does not contain any immunity provision, while the base bill awaiting action in the Senate does. But several Senate Democrats are planning to alter, if not strike, the immunity language through the amendment process. A temporary extension of the interim bill, passed last summer over the objections of many Democrats, would effectively buy them more time.
http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/wiretapping-battle-heats-up-on-hill-...
* Senate Opens Debate On Wiretap Measure
The Senate yesterday began debating whether to grant legal immunity to telephone companies for assisting in warrantless wiretaps of terrorism suspects, with Democrats divided and their leadership pleading with the White House for more time to consider the issue.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/23/AR200801...

* President will lay out four themes
President Bush’s last State of the Union address next week will feature four big themes: fixing the economy, renewal of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), recent successes in Iraq and ratification of trade agreements.
http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/president-will-lay-out-four-themes-2...

* Cheney urges action on surveillance law
Vice President Cheney prodded Congress on Wednesday to extend and broaden an expiring surveillance law, saying "fighting the war on terror is a long-term enterprise" that should not come with an expiration date.
http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/20080124/a_capcol24.art.htm
* Cheney: Telecoms deserve immunity for NSA aid
http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9856843-7.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2...

* Presidential Candidates Speak Out on FISA
Sen Barack Obama and former Sen John Edwards released statements opposing retroactive immunity in the FISA bill.
http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=3395

* Collins, Snowe back immunity clause
New legislation that would grant retroactive immunity from lawsuits to telephone companies that took part in a domestic surveillance program could be approved by the Senate this weekend with strong bipartisan backing, including Maine’s two Republican senators. The immunity provision is strongly opposed by elected officials and civil liberties groups in Maine.
http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/story.php?id=164397&ac=PHnws