Bush, Democrats clash on FISA

The standoff between President Bush and House Democrats on wiretapping legislation showed no signs of slowing down Saturday, with the White House charging that Democrats have left the country vulnerable to attack and Democrats accusing the administration of using scare tactics to get its way.

The two sides are at odds over giving retroactive immunity to telecommunications companies as part of a permanent update to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). Bush charged in his weekly radio address that House Democrats are blocking passage of a bill that already passed the Senate because they are beholden to trial lawyers.

{mosads}“The Senate bill would prevent plaintiffs’ attorneys from suing companies believed to have helped defend America after the 9/11 attacks,” Bush said. “It is unfair and unjust to threaten these companies with financial ruin only because they are believed to have done the right thing and helped their country.”

The president is worried that telecom companies, without protection from lawsuits, will not help the U.S. intelligence community in the future. Bush called upon the House to match the Senate in protecting those corporations from such suits.

“Somewhere in the world, at this very moment, terrorists are planning the next attack on America.  And to protect America from such attacks, we must protect our telecommunications companies from abusive lawsuits,” said Bush.  

By blocking the legislation, the president argued, Democrats have left “our nation increasingly vulnerable to attack.” The president urged them to pass the measure as soon as possible after returning from recess.

In response, House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.) sought to assure the public that, despite “dire warnings” from Bush, “FISA remains in effect today and allows for rapid court-approved wiretapping to collect foreign intelligence information, while protecting Americans’ civil liberties.”

In August, Congress had passed a temporary FISA fix, which expired earlier this year. That legislation was extended for two more weeks but Bush made it clear earlier this month that he would not sign any more short-term extensions, which let the update expire. However, the original FISA legislation remains in place.

Conyers said that “amazingly” Bush and House Republicans opposed another three week extension of the August legislation, which he argues would have given the Senate and the House time to iron out their differences.

“The president and House Republicans simply can’t have it both ways,” Conyers said. “They cannot argue simultaneously that the temporary August law was essential to national security, and then turn around and engineer the defeat of an extension of it.”

In an effort to put additional pressure on House Democrats, Attorney General Michael Mukasey and Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell said in a letter to Capitol Hill that “remedial” measures taken in the absence of the tools provided through the FISA update were not sufficient to keep the country safe.