Senate spy bill still shields telecoms
A revision is blocked; it omitted retroactive immunity for firms sued for cooperating with the government.
WASHINGTON — In a victory for the Bush administration, the Senate on Thursday blocked legislation that would have cleared the way for lawsuits against phone companies that have cooperated with a warrantless wiretapping program authorized by President Bush.
The vote moves the administration closer to its goal of providing retroactive immunity to telephone companies and Internet carriers that are facing multimillion-dollar lawsuits for giving U.S. spy agencies access to international calls and messages streaming across their networks.
The issue is being considered by the Senate this week as part of the latest effort to overhaul a 1978 law that governs U.S. intelligence agencies' ability to intercept electronic communications around the world. Congress passed a stopgap measure last summer that expires at the end of the month.
After the vote, Republicans and Democrats deadlocked over how to advance the broader surveillance bill.
They are expected to take it up again Monday, when the president is to give his State of the Union address.
The bill is designed to update surveillance laws to reflect the emergence of the Internet and other technologies.
At the same time, it is meant to impose controls on a controversial surveillance program launched by Bush in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks that involved intercepting international calls and e-mails of U.S. residents without court warrants.
As part of that program, the Bush administration convinced AT&T, Sprint and other major telecommunications companies to allow U.S. spy agencies extensive access to the streams of data flowing across their networks.
Those companies now face lawsuits for cooperating with an espionage operation that even many members of Congress have called illegal.
On Thursday, the Senate voted 60 to 36 against an amendment that would have replaced the broader intelligence bill with new language that omitted legal protections for the phone companies.
The White House praised the vote, which effectively killed a rival bill that had been endorsed by the Senate Judiciary Committee.
The Bush administration is "very pleased" that the Senate voted against the committee measure, said White House spokesman Tony Fratto.
As a result, he said, the Senate can move forward with a measure that, "while not perfect, does substantially give the intelligence community the tools it needs to protect the country."
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- Compromise reached on government wiretaps Jun 20, 2008
