WASHINGTON — Lawmakers pressed ahead Wednesday with proposals that would authorize President Bush's domestic spying program, as Senate Intelligence Committee members debated whether to launch an investigation into the controversial surveillance activities.
The Senate Intelligence Committee meets today and is expected to vote on a Democratic proposal to investigate the eavesdropping by the National Security Agency. As authorized by Bush more than four years ago, agents do not need a judicial warrant to intercept international communications by people in the U.S. with suspected links to terrorists.
Approval by eight of the committee's 15 members is needed to initiate a probe, and the committee's seven Democrats all support it. Most Republicans are opposed but two -- Sen. Olympia J. Snowe of Maine and Chuck Hagel of Nebraska -- have said they have not made up their minds.
The program operated in secret until December; after its existence became known, lawmakers questioned its legality and pushed for details about its operation.
Administration officials last week briefed members of the Senate and House intelligence committees on the program for the first time. But Snowe and others have said those sessions were inadequate.
"She has not decided at this point in time about how she will vote, but Sen. Snowe does not believe that the briefing ... was sufficient," said spokeswoman Antonia Ferrier. "She believes there should be more information and more details provided to the committee."
Snowe attended a meeting with Vice President Dick Cheney on Tuesday that was designed as a session for Republican senators to air concerns about the program.
Hagel has not met or talked to administration officials about his vote, according to his spokesman, Mike Buttry. Hagel has said he would support an Intelligence Committee probe as long as it was not "punitive" in intent.
Meanwhile, Sens. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) and Mike DeWine (R-Ohio) worked on competing proposals to legalize the program. DeWine favors exempting it from federal court oversight altogether and Specter urges periodic exemptions.
"We're moving ahead," Specter told reporters Wednesday. "I'm intending to do this."
Under the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, the NSA was prohibited from spying inside the United States unless it received a warrant from a secret surveillance court staffed by federal judges. The court's rules are more lenient than those of criminal courts and its guidelines permit authorities to seek warrants retroactively.
