Reid considers extending Protect America Act for one month to buy more time

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said Tuesday he would seek to extend a controversial interim wiretapping law through February to avoid the early presidential primary season.

{mosads}Reid said Senate Democrats might have a better chance of resolving internal disputes and moving a rewrite of the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) once the early primaries have concluded.

Congress passed an interim measure in early August, the Protect America Act (PAA), that broadly expanded the government’s powers over foreign-intelligence surveillance within U.S. borders. The PAA sunsets on Feb. 1, and Democrats had hoped to pass a permanent bill that would update FISA while restoring much of the oversight over domestic eavesdropping back to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.

Under Reid’s plan, the Senate would have enough breathing room to pass a compromise bill and reconcile any differences with the House, which has already passed a Democratic measure that would re-establish court oversight over the National Security Agency’s warrantless spying program. The Senate Intelligence Committee passed a bipartisan measure that includes retroactive immunity for telecommunications firms, while the Judiciary panel passed a separate bill that is silent on immunity.

Reid said the Democratic nomination would likely be solidified by early February. After that, presidential politics would have less of an impact on the surveillance debate. The Democratic base is sharply critical of the PAA.

“By sometime early in February, the presidential nomination will likely be pretty well determined on the Democratic side, at least,” Reid said. “So I think, for all those reasons, it would be a good idea to extend it.”

Reid’s move to extend the debate is a signal that the Democratic legislative agenda will increasingly be shaped by the presidential campaign trail.

Reid was forced to pull the bill abruptly from the floor Monday night after Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), a long-shot presidential candidate, returned to Capitol Hill from the campaign trail in Iowa, vowing to derail the measure because of the immunity language. Reid said the reason for pulling the bill was the large number of amendments that were pending in the short time remaining before the Christmas recess. Dodd used procedural tactics to stall the Senate's consideration of the bill Monday.

Dodd may be forced to drop out of the race by early February if he does not have a strong showing in the early primary contests. But the senator suggested Monday that presidential politics had nothing to do with his stance, arguing that he would be fighting as hard against the plan if he were not seeking the Democratic nomination.

Dodd, along with several other liberal Democrats, are strongly opposed to the immunity language, alleging it would shield firms and the administration for illegally wiretapping American citizens.

But other Democrats, like Intelligence Chairman Jay Rockefeller (W.Va.), along with Republicans, argue that the firms need protection because the administration gave them assurances that their actions were legal and in the interests of national security.

A Rockefeller aide said the senator would support the 30-day extension. But it remains unclear whether Republicans will block Reid’s efforts to extend the PAA.

“I don't see that it benefits us to continue to delay something that we know we need to do,” said Sen. Kit Bond (R-Mo.), vice chairman of the Intelligence Committee.

Reid said he spoke Monday night with Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell, who agreed that extending the PAA for one month was a “good idea.”

Ross Feinstein, a McConnell spokesman, said the director of national intelligence spoke with Reid Tuesday and expressed "significant concerns" about temporarily extending the interim law.

Without extending the time for debate, some Democrats fear that the White House will warn that failure to enact the bill could increase the chances of a terrorist attack and pressure Democrats to pass a bill they oppose — the same scenario as last August.

“People are firm for the moment … but then the intimidation starts,” said Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.), a staunch critic of the telecom immunity provision. “Too often Democrats allow themselves to be intimidated by phony arguments.”