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Dead Constitution See other Dead Constitution Articles Title: FISA Talks Start as White House, Republicans Assail Democrats FISA Talks Start as White House, Republicans Assail Democrats By Tim Starks, CQ Staff Congressional Republicans and the White House feuded anew with Democrats Friday over the impending expiration of a temporary surveillance law, as top Democrats began meeting on a more lasting electronic eavesdropping overhaul. The temporary law, which expanded executive branch surveillance authority (PL 110-55), expires Saturday. Both chambers were in pro forma session Friday, and most members had left town for the Presidents Day recess. The White House this week refused to support a short extension of the existing law, demanding instead that the House clear, without change, a long-term bill (HR 3773) the Senate passed Feb. 12. House Republicans, along with a group of 34 liberal and conservative Democrats, voted down a 21-day extension (HR 5349) a day after the Senate passed its version (S 2248) of a long-term overhaul of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Republicans and some conservative Blue Dog Democrats were pushing for the House to take up the Senate-passed version, rather than hold a conference on the bill. President Bush said there is “a serious problem facing our country, and that is the fact that House leaders blocked a good piece of legislation that would give our intelligence community the tools they need to protect America from a terrorist attack.” Added White House spokesman Scott Stanzel: “The House leadership, which seems to be beholden to class-action trial attorneys in this matter, refused to let it come up for a vote. So they are more interested in protecting the interests of one of their constituencies than in protecting the interests of Americans.” But House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer, D-Md., said the expiration of the temporary law, called the Protect America Act, would be Bush’s fault. “After refusing to extend current law, the president repeated today his untenable and irresponsible claim that our national security will be jeopardized unless the House immediately rubber-stamps a Senate bill to modify the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act,” he said. “In fact, 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, if the PAA expires.” The top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, John D. Conyers Jr. of Michigan, and the leaders of the House and Senate Intelligence panels met to begin discussing their differences over the House and Senate-passed version of the FISA (PL 95-511) legislation. Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick J. Leahy, D-Vt., was back in his home state of Vermont. Hoyer said he would meet later with the Intelligence chairmen, Rep. Silvestre Reyes, D-Texas, and Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV, D-W.Va. The House bill would provide more oversight from the secret FISA court of surveillance of foreign targets who may be communicating with people in the United States than would the Senate version. The Senate version would grant retroactive legal immunity to telecommunications companies being sued for their alleged involvement in the Bush administration’s warrantless surveillance program, whereas the House version would not. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said the “only solution that works” is for the House to come back after the recess and quickly clear the Senate version of the bill, which was formulated by the Senate Intelligence Committee in close consultation with the White House. McConnell predicted lawmakers would have to answer tough questions when they leave Washington for the President’s Day recess. “Obviously, we are going to be talking about this issue in our states and our districts,” McConnell said. “People will be asked about it all over the country, and they’ll have to decide how to answer the question.” The National Republican Congressional Committee went on the attack Thursday after the House left without passing the Senate bill, sending out news releases on FISA targeting Democrats in tight races, and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., the likely GOP presidential nominee, also assailed Democrats in remarks on CNN distributed by his campaign. Kathleen Hunter and Molly Hooper contributed to this article.
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