Friday, June 20, 2008
Betrayed by Democrats.....
Yesterday House Democrats and Republicans effectively struck a deal to "provide what amounts to legal immunity to the phone companies that took part in President Bush's program of eavesdropping." Today the parties will vote on the compromise bill. The New York Times has details below on the compromise. The AP will have updates of the voting here.
After months of wrangling, Democratic and Republican leaders in Congress struck a deal on Thursday to overhaul the rules on the government's wiretapping powers and provide what amounts to legal immunity to the phone companies that took part in President Bush's program of eavesdropping without warrants after the Sept. 11 attacks.
The deal, expanding the government's powers to spy on terrorism suspects in some major respects, would strengthen the ability of intelligence officials to eavesdrop on foreign targets. It would also allow them to conduct emergency wiretaps without court orders on American targets for a week if it is determined that important national security information would otherwise be lost. If approved, as appears likely, the agreement would be the most significant revision of surveillance law in 30 years.
