N.H. Senators Vote to Protect Companies in Wiretap Program
NH FISA
Union Leader
Matt Negrin
Boston University Washington News Service
12 February 2008
WASHINGTON — Both of New Hampshire’s Republican senators voted Tuesday to continue a 30-year-old surveillance program while protecting companies that aided in government wiretapping after Sept. 11, 2001.
The bill updating the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act passed the Senate with support from both parties, 68-29, after an attempt to strike the immunity provisions from it was widely rejected. Sens. Judd Gregg and John Sununu joined 65 other senators in opposing the amendment, proposed by Chris Dodd, D-Conn.
Working with the government, the companies monitored communications between foreign terrorist suspects and U.S. residents in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks. A federal judge ruled in 2006 that the warrantless wiretapping programs the Bush administration used were unconstitutional.
While most senators regarded updating the act as necessary, some Democrats fought to omit the immunity for the companies, saying it would give a free pass to those that spied for the government and would slow the investigation of the Bush administration’s wiretapping programs.
The Select Committee on Intelligence added the protective measures to the House bill, which does not include immunity, and voted for it, 13-2. Passing the Dodd amendment “would have undone the bipartisan agreement that the Intelligence Committee had put together around the bill,” Sununu said.
“They came to the bipartisan conclusion that the telecommunication providers had been given clear legal certification that this is an authorized program and that they acted in good faith,” he said. “I think given that circumstance in this particular case, it makes sense to provide them limited immunity.”
The telecommunications companies are cited in about 40 pending lawsuits accusing them of illegal wiretapping. Gregg said the litigation had no purpose other than to “enrich trial lawyers.”
“These lawsuits do not make any sense if the people who assisted the government did so for the lawful purpose of intercepting communication by non-Americans involving threats against America,” he said.
Speaking to reporters Tuesday afternoon, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell hailed the bill as a “significant bipartisan accomplishment” and urged the House to accept the Senate version and send the legislation to President Bush. The White House had threatened to veto any bill that does not protect the telecommunications companies.
Following McConnell and appearing somewhat deflated, Majority Leader Harry Reid did not address the surveillance bill until prompted by a reporter. The Nevada senator called the immunity debate “an important issue with strong feelings.”
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