House Dems defy Bush on wiretap bill

WASHINGTON - Extending a battle with the Bush administration over espionage laws, Democrats in the House pushed through legislation Friday that gives the government expanded wiretapping authorities but does not shield phone companies from lawsuits for aiding U.S. spy agencies.

The bill was approved in the face of a veto threat from President Bush, who has campaigned to have Congress expand the government's powers to intercept international e-mails and phone calls and compel telecommunications companies to cooperate.

The legislation passed 213-197 in a vote that followed party lines and came just before lawmakers left for a two-week recess. It marks the latest in a series of attempts by Congress to update electronic surveillance laws that were passed before the advent of the Internet or cell phones.

Two bills must be reconciled

Friday's vote did little to move toward a resolution on the issue. The House measure must be reconciled with a bill passed by the Senate earlier this year. The Senate version was far closer to what the Bush administration has sought.

The vote reflects an emerging willingness by House Democrats to defy the White House on a national security issue after being accused in recent years of succumbing to administration pressure out of fear of being portrayed as soft on terrorism.

Republicans responded by suggesting that House Democrats were leaving the nation vulnerable by failing to pass the legislation.

"The Pelosi Democrats are rolling the dice with our national security," said Sen. Christopher Bond, R-Mo., the ranking Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee, referring to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.

House Democrats have called such criticism from Republicans a scare tactic and said that the legislation strikes a balance between providing U.S. spy agencies necessary tools to monitor communications of terrorist networks while protecting civil liberties of U.S. citizens.

Rep. Rush Holt, D-N.J., a member of the House Intelligence Committee, said the bill was passed despite a "relentless drumbeat of propaganda and disinformation orchestrated by the administration."

Indeed, the vote came a day after the House held a rare secret session at the request of House Republicans who sought a chance to debate without fear of divulging classified data. The secret session was the House's first since 1983.

Overhaul of 1978 law

The House and Senate measures represented attempts to overhaul a 1978 law known as the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

The House language would expand the government's authority to intercept e-mails and phone calls coming into the United States, and it would give the government the power to compel telecommunications companies to give U.S. spy agencies access to data flowing across their networks.

The main disagreement has been over whether to immunize those companies retroactively from lawsuits for taking part in a warrantless wiretapping program that was authorized by Bush after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and that involved monitoring communications of U.S. citizens. AT&T, Verizon and other companies face at least 38 lawsuits.

The Senate version of the bill grants those companies retroactive liability protection.