Spy bill standoff persists
WASHINGTON -- In a day of political brinkmanship, President Bush pressured the House on Thursday to finish a bill giving the government more leeway to eavesdrop on phone calls and e-mails of suspected terrorists. House Democrats didn't budge.
From the White House, Bush argued the House has plenty of time to pass a bill before the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act expires at midnight Saturday. The president plans to leave on a five-nation trip to Africa this afternoon, but said he'd delay his departure and stay in Washington "if it will help them complete their work on this critical bill."
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she instructed the chairmen of the House intelligence and judiciary committees to meet with their Senate counterparts by today to start reconciling the House and Senate eavesdropping legislation -- something she predicted could be done within 21 days.
Bush is backing the Senate-passed bill, which includes retroactive protection from lawsuits that telecommunications companies are facing because they cooperated with government eavesdropping following the Sept. 11 terror attacks. The House bill does not provide immunity from lawsuits for the telecommunications companies.
Bush wants the House to pass the Senate version so he can sign it into law immediately. Bush has said he will not approve another extension, and House Republicans helped defeat a 21-day extension of the law Thursday.
In his second statement on the bill at the White House in two days, Bush said that "it would be a mistake" if Congress allowed the law to expire. "Members of Congress knew all along that this deadline was approaching," he said. "They set it themselves. They've had more than six months to discuss and deliberate. And now they must act."
He rebuffed claims that the issue had turned into a political game of chicken.
"I certainly hope not," Bush said. "I can assure you al-Qaida, in their planning, isn't thinking about politics. They're thinking about hurting the American people again."
In a letter to Bush, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Democrats stand ready to reconcile the two bills, but that the current law should be extended until that could be accomplished.
"Your opposition to an extension is inexplicable. ... Nonetheless, you have chosen to let the Protect America Act expire," Reid wrote. "You bear responsibility for any intelligence collection gap that may result." Reid also said he saw no crisis that should lead Bush to cancel his trip to Africa.
Expiration of the current law would not mean an immediate end to eavesdropping on suspected terrorists. Existing surveillance could continue under the law for a year from when it began -- at least until August. Any new surveillance the government wants to institute could be implemented through underlying FISA rules, which could require warrants from a secret court. The White House argues that this can cause "dangerous delays."
The White House says if the House does not pass the bipartisan Senate bill, it will harm the nation's ability to conduct surveillance to detect new threats to U.S. security, including the locations, intentions and capabilities of terrorists and other foreign intelligence targets abroad.
The White House also says that the attorney general and the director of national intelligence would be stripped of the power to authorize new certifications against foreign intelligence targets, including international terrorists, abroad. And they could be stripped of their power to compel the assistance of a private company not already helping the government.
"Without this liability shield, we may not be able to secure the private sector's cooperation. ... and that of course would put the American people at risk," Bush said.
Pelosi, D-Calif., dismissed the Bush administration's warnings of dire consequences if the current law lapses. The underlying intelligence surveillance law that would be reverted to, along with other federal law and presidential orders, give Bush authority he needs for spying and other measures, she said.
"We are trying to pass a bill that protects the American people and protects the Constitution," she said. "We know the president has the authority to do everything he needs to do to protect the American people in the interim."
Speaking to the Senate Intelligence Committee, Mike McConnell, director of national intelligence, said the current law is not enough because it does not include immunity for the phone companies.
"We must rely on the private sector to be effective," McConnell said, adding that failure to pass the Senate bill will do "grave damage to our ability to protect the nation."
Silvestre Reyes, the chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, disagreed.
"As someone who has been briefed on our most sensitive intelligence programs, I can see no argument why the future security of our country depends on whether past actions of telecommunications companies are immunized," Reyes wrote in a letter to Bush.