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Dead Constitution See other Dead Constitution Articles Title: Congress Clears Bill to Extend Temporary Surveillance Law for 15 Days Congress Clears Bill to Extend Temporary Surveillance Law for 15 Days By Tim Starks, CQ Staff Congress sent a bill to the president Tuesday that would extend a surveillance law that expires Feb. 1, but more wrangling is ahead before lawmakers can enact a long-term rewrite of electronic spying rules. The House on Tuesday passed a 15-day extension (HR 5104) of the temporary surveillance law (PL 110-55) by voice vote, with the goal of giving lawmakers in both chambers more time to work on a more comprehensive overhaul. The Senate cleared it by voice vote. The extension would keep the current law in force until Feb. 16, the day before lawmakers are scheduled to begin their Presidents Day recess. Bush is expected to sign the bill, after vowing to veto earlier Democratic proposals to enact a 30-day extension. “While we maintain that Congress has had sufficient time to conclude its work, we have indicated to congressional leaders that we will accommodate this request so that Congress can live up to its commitment to passing a bill that gives the intelligence community the tools they need to protect the nation. Congress should complete its work before departing for its next break,” said White House spokeswoman Jeanie Mamo. Senate Republicans want to keep pressure on Democrats to bring to a vote a longer-term bill (S 2248) that is backed by the White House. As of late Tuesday, Republicans and Democrats remained deadlocked over what amendments should be allowed. The House has already passed its own bill (HR 3773) that would rewrite the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA, PL 95-511). One major difference between the two bills, which would have to be worked out, is that the Senate legislation would grant retroactive immunity to telecommunications companies being sued for their alleged role in the National Security Agency’s warrantless surveillance program. That provision, which the Bush administration strongly supports, is not in the House bill. The House and Senate bills also differ in how spying would be conducted. The Senate bill would allow warrantless surveillance of foreign targets who may be communicating with people in the United States, but it would give the secret FISA court the authority to approve how such spying is performed. The House bill would require the administration to apply to the FISA court for a warrant permitting spying on a large number of foreign targets who might be communicating with people in the United States. Before House and Senate negotiators can go to conference on their competing FISA bills, though, the Senate still has to pass its bill, something it has struggled to do over the past two months. Bickering Over Amendments Initially, Republicans had blocked amendments to the legislation, with Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., arguing that they could disrupt a deal on compromise legislation negotiated with the White House. But on Tuesday, McConnell said Republicans had offered Democrats votes on a package of amendments that included a Democratic measure that would strike retroactive immunity, and a bipartisan one that would substitute the federal government as the defendant in the lawsuits against the telecommunications companies. Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., rejected that package, saying there were a number of other amendments, particularly those related to the conduct of spying, that Democrats wanted considered. Although Reid filed a motion to limit debate on a bill (S 2556) that would extend the temporary law for 30 days, he said he was not committed to any particular extension length. “We’re willing to extend it for a week, two weeks, whatever [the Republicans] want,” Reid said. And consecutive extensions are “fine with me,” he added. McConnell, though, said the Senate should focus on a more thorough rewrite. “The most important thing for us to do right now is to get the bill out of the Senate. We’ve got plenty of time to do that. We’ve been dealing with this for six months,” McConnell said. “And then we can talk about what kind of an extension the president might be willing to sign, which would give the House an opportunity to respond to the Senate-passed bill.” After the Senate cleared the 15-day extension, Reid said: “We’re going to do our very best to have an agreement shortly and finish action on this. . . . We had a number of good meetings today. Our goal is to get [a bill] quickly to the House . . . prior to the 15 days we’ve extended.” House Republicans also criticized Democrats for not yet passing the permanent expansion of FISA. “It’s time to come to a final conclusion,” Minority Whip Roy Blunt, R-Mo., said. House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer, D-Md., directed the blame at Republicans. He said the House Intelligence and Judiciary committees had tried for eight months to obtain access to the same legal documents their Senate counterparts saw before drafting their bill. Only last week, the administration agreed to hand over those documents, Hoyer said. “It is reasonable to conclude that our committees need some time to digest the hefty stack of documents to help make the determination of what, if any, immunity is warranted,” he said. When asked if an extension is just a way of punting a problem, Reid said, “I kind of like punts. Sometimes it gives you a good field position. Punting isn’t the worst thing in the world.” Greg Vadala and Catharine Richert contributed to this story.
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