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Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives have already stood up to President Bush this week, refusing to approve a controversial Senate bill that would immunize telephone companies from lawsuits alleging illegal spying. Now they're being forced to defend their actions against those who contend that inaction endangers national security--and who wonder what happens next.

At a Capitol Hill press conference on Friday afternoon, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said he, Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers (D-Mich.), and Intelligence Committee Chairman Silvestre Reyes (D-Texas) have already begun trying to resolve what has become a very public disagreement. … Read more

Rebuffing a series of incendiary statements from President Bush, House Democrats left town for a week without granting telecommunications firms immunity from violating federal privacy laws.

In a speech on Thursday, Bush accused Democrats of endangering "the lives of countless Americans" by not enacting the legislation he and fellow Republicans had proposed, which includes retroactive immunity for telecommunications companies that illegally opened their networks to the National Security Agency.

The White House subsequently circulated a statement saying: "This risks creating new intelligence gaps, which damages our national security and makes no sense if the first priority is … Read more

Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives have scuttled an attempt to grant a temporary extension to a controversial wiretap law--that did not include retroactive immunity for telecommunications companies.

By a 191-229 vote on Wednesday afternoon, the House failed to approve a bill to extend the Protect America Act for 21 days in its current form. The law--which Republicans say is necessary to allow interception of communications that transit the United States--is scheduled to expire on Saturday.

The vote, in which 34 Democrats joined the Republicans, comes hours after President Bush called for including retroactive immunity for any companies … Read more

With Congress seeking more time to finalize a soon-to-expire expansion of the government's electronic spying powers, President Bush on Wednesday issued an ultimatum: No more delays.

In a brief morning speech delivered from the Oval Office, the president praised the U.S. Senate's passage on Tuesday of a six-year law that would give the administration more latitude to conduct surveillance without a court order. The controversial measure would also immunize telephone companies from past and future lawsuits accusing them of illegal cooperation with government spy agencies. The whole package is intended to be a more permanent replacement to … Read more

Editor's note: This story was updated at 12:23 p.m. PST to add more information about the Senate votes and the upcoming House action, and at 2:56 p.m. PST to add information about the final vote.

In a setback for privacy and civil liberties groups, the U.S. Senate on Tuesday voted to protect telephone and Internet companies from lawsuits alleging illegal cooperation with government spy agencies.

By a 31-67 vote, senators failed to approve a Democratic-sponsored amendment that would have allowed lawsuits against AT&T and other telecommunication companies accused of illegal activities to … Read more

Updated at 5:05 a.m. PST Wednesday

The U.S. Congress voted on Tuesday to keep a controversial expansion of a wiretapping law alive for another 15 days.

The law in question, called the Protect America Act, was passed hurriedly by Congress last August and is set to expire Friday. The temporary extension, which passed by a voice vote, arrived amid strong objections from the Bush administration and many Republicans. But according to published reports, the White House plans to sign off on the measure.

The 15-day extension followed Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's failed attempt on Monday … Read more

A high-stakes political debate over wiretapping and immunity for telecommunications companies has been pushed back by at least one day.

In two votes on Monday, senators failed to reach the 60-vote supermajority required to curb debate and force a vote on either of two wiretapping-related proposals, one favored by Republicans and the other backed by Democrats. Each vote was 48 yea to 45 no.

That means the debate on how to rework the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act will continue later this week. In his State of the Union address Monday evening, President Bush is expected to press Congress to … Read more

Yet another brawl is brewing among congressional Democrats and the Bush administration over enacting a controversial spy law that would immunize telephone and Internet companies from lawsuits alleging wrongdoing.

With barely a week before the Protect America Act--a six-month-long expansion of electronic surveillance law--expires, the White House has been ratcheting up pressure to renew and further expand that law.

It started Tuesday with a new press release that warned: "The terrorist threat does not expire February 1, and neither should legislation critical to keeping our nation safe."

And it continued on Wednesday by sending Vice President Dick … Read more

Can members of Al Qaeda use voice over Internet technology (VoIP) to avoid wiretaps?

Recent comments by Michael McConnell, Director of National Intelligence, seem to suggest that terrorists could create significant roadblocks for the National Security Agency by simply routing their traffic through the U.S.

The incongruously named Protect America Act of 2007 gutted the existing Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), and allowed the National Security Agency to significantly expand its surveillance powers. It's set to expire in February, and the Administration is looking for reasons to justify extending the law. With perfect timing, Michael McConnell, Director of … Read more