Bush, Dems take fight over FISA to the airwaves

President Bush used his weekly radio address Saturday to blast House Democrats for leaving town without passing a Senate-approved foreign intelligence surveillance law, accusing them of causing a lapse in national security by allowing the current law to expire.

“At the stroke of midnight tonight, a vital intelligence law that is helping protect our nation will expire. Congress had the power to prevent this from happening, but chose not to,” he said.

{mosads}Bush, who left for Africa on Friday, implored House leaders to pass a bill promptly after returning from a ten-day break, slyly implying that they put their own R & R before the safety of Americans.

“The Senate has shown the way by approving a good, bipartisan bill,” Bush said. “The House must pass that bill as soon as they return to Washington from their latest recess.”

In the meantime, the president vowed that his administration would do everything in its power to “minimize the damage caused by the House’s irresponsible behavior.”

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), delivering the response from the Democrats, shot back that the president was “whipping up false fears” and “creating artificial confrontation.”

He said Bush would take the blame for any security failure because he had threatened to veto legislation extending the current law until House and Senate negotiators arrived at a compromise.

“Make no mistake: If the surveillance law expires, if any intelligence loss results, it is President Bush’s choice. Period,” he said.

The on-air barbs continued the bitter recriminations party leaders have traded for days over the surveillance legislation, stamping out any trace of the bipartisan cooperation that smoothed the enactment of the economic stimulus package earlier this week.

At issue is a provision to shield the telecommunications companies that aided the administration’s warrantless wiretapping program from lawsuits. The Bush administration is insisting on immunity for the companies, and the Senate on Tuesday passed a version of the legislation that would protect them by a 68-29 vote.

But House-passed legislation to revamp the surveillance law has no such protections for the companies. House Democrats this week balked at passing the Senate bill before leaving town on Friday, saying they wanted to hammer out a compromise with the upper chamber.

Whitehouse on Saturday echoed the argument made by House Democrats that taking the time to hold proper bicameral negotiations wouldn’t compromise national security because intelligence orders under the existing law remain in effect for a year.

Bush struck directly at this argument in his remarks, asserting that Congress’ failure to act meant that the Attorney General and the Director of National Intelligence would not be able to authorize new overseas surveillance against terrorist threats.

“This means that as terrorists change their tactics to avoid our surveillance, we may not have the tools we need to continue tracking them — and we may lose a vital lead that could prevent an attack on America,” he said.