Senators: Stimulus, Surveillance Bills to Pass by Week’s End
BILLS
Union Leader
Matt Negrin
Boston University Washington News Service
5 February 2008
WASHINGTON — Senate leaders of both parties said Tuesday they plan on passing bills on economic stimulus and electronic surveillance law changes by the end of the week.
Sen. Mitch McConnell, the minority leader, said both bills are “important measures” that have large and bipartisan support. He told reporters the Senate is prepared to pass a modified version of the House’s stimulus bill, which proposes a $146 billion boost to the economy but does not include payments to seniors and disabled veterans, unlike the stimulus bill the Senate Finance Committee approved last week.
Sen. Harry Reid, the majority leader, also told reporters the Senate plans to vote on a stimulus package soon.
The Senate also will vote within days on an extension of President Bush’s electronic surveillance program, the senators said, though they admitted there has been frustration in reconciling differences.
“We’re having some sparring back and forth,” McConnell said.
The bill would grant immunities to telecommunications providers that let the government spy on citizens after Sept. 11, 2001. Bush has threatened to veto a bill “that does not provide the U.S. intelligence agencies the tools they need,” wrote Attorney General Michael Mukasey and National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell in a letter to Senate leaders Tuesday.
Reid scoffed at the threat, saying “there’s nothing to veto” yet.
Both of New Hampshire’s Republican senators are calling for the bills to be voted on soon.
“There’s no reason we shouldn’t be voting on them,” Sen. Judd Gregg said in a telephone interview, adding that the surveillance bill “is all about protecting America from an attack by terrorists who want to do us harm.”
Sen. John Sununu said the stimulus package should have incentives for small businesses in New Hampshire while providing coverage for seniors and disabled veterans.
“If every senator gets to add a pet project on the package, it’s going to collapse under its own weight,” he said. “We need to use the House bill as the base for what we move forward.”
Sununu said he will work to protect civil liberties in the surveillance bill, but he urged Congress to pass it “immediately so that our intelligence community can continue essential monitoring and surveillance activity overseas.”
Democratic Rep. Paul Hodes also said the Senate should “pass a bill that protects the rights of Americans to be free from government spying, while also putting the necessary tools in place to keep our country safe.”
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