The Political Chase

Panel Approves Eavesdropping Bill with Immunity Intact

The Senate Intelligence Committee’s version of the RESTORE Act was approved tonight after a closed mark up session. The Committee’s version of the bill still allows "blanket warrants," which are the same as those used by King George III against American colonists and provoked the Declaration of Independence. Moreover, it appears retroactive immunity is included in the Senate version.

More on this tomorrow.

Panel Approves Eavesdropping Compromise - New York Times

After nearly five hours of closed discussions, Senator John D. Rockefeller IV of West Virginia, the Democratic chairman, and Senator Christopher S. Bond of Missouri, the Republican vice chairman, emerged to announce that the measure had been approved in a 13-to-2 vote.

“There were substantial compromises on the part of all members and, frankly, of the administration,” Mr. Rockefeller said of the measure, which would expire in six years. Two Democratic senators, Russ Feingold of Wisconsin and Ron Wyden of Oregon, cast the no votes.

But passage in the committee came with one unexpected hitch. In an interview after the closed session, Mr. Wyden said he had succeeded, by a vote of 9 to 6, in adding an amendment that would offer additional protections by requiring that the government get a warrant whenever it wanted to wiretap an American outside the country, like an American soldier based overseas or a business person.

…The main difference between the [Senate and House versions] comes down to the question of giving immunity to the major telephone carriers — AT&T and Verizon — that are now being sued over their roles in the eavesdropping program after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11. The House bill does not grant immunity.