Bush bypasses Bond, talks to Dems on FISA

The Bush administration is talking directly with Democrats over rewriting the nation’s surveillance laws and leaving the top Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee out of the debate, a senior Senate Democrat said Wednesday.

Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) said that negotiations were occurring without Sen. Kit Bond (Mo.), the ranking Republican on the panel.

{mosads}“He’s not really in it,” Rockefeller said.

Rockefeller said that Bond had made the talks more difficult by insisting he have private negotiations with House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), a move Rockefeller called a “non-starter.”

“You know, Bond, he’s just complicating things,” Rockefeller said. “And I’ve never talked to him about [his one-on-one talks with Hoyer], so I don’t understand it.”

The possibility that talks were occurring between Democrats and the administration had recently angered Bond, who was concerned that a compromise was being hashed out without his input, according to a Republican senator who asked for anonymity.

On Wednesday, Bond did not deny being upset previously, but said the administration had since assured him that it was not negotiating behind his back. The concern is that the White House would reach a deal with Democrats and congressional Republicans would be forced to oblige. The White House may now be more eager to reach a deal, with President Bush’s time running out.

Bond said the administration has assured him that the offer being discussed is the one that was put forth by Republicans before Memorial Day. “I just think that — there was a lot of confusion for a time as to who was doing it,” he said.

He defended his efforts to negotiate a compromise with Hoyer.

“It’s enabled us to get where we are now,” Bond said.

Bond said that he was “surprised” that Rockefeller thought he was making the process more difficult.

“It doesn’t bother me, but it’s strange that he’s saying that,” Bond said.

Shana Marchio, a spokeswoman for Bond, said her boss “is not aware of Rockefeller’s direct involvement in any of the proposals that have been sent back and forth between” Hoyer and Republicans.

“Sen. Bond has been dealing directly with Hoyer on FISA and would assume that Rockefeller supports the Senate bill that he voted for on the floor of the Senate,” Marchio said, adding that Bond had “no indication” of any separate White House negotiations with Democrats.

The statements speak to the growing tensions over the rewrite of the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). And the exchange comes as the two men prepare to trade barbs Thursday over reports outlining intelligence leading up to the Iraq war.

A temporary law to authorize a warrantless wiretapping program expired in February, and Republicans have pressured Democrats to pass a sweeping White House-backed FISA overhaul in its place.

But Democrats have refused to budge, objecting mainly to the insistence of the White House that the bill include retroactive liability protections for telephone companies that participated in the administration’s wiretapping program. Democrats say such legal protections should not be handed out if the administration and companies were abiding by the law. Republicans say without the protections, companies will not be willing to help protect the country from terrorist attacks.

Rockefeller and Bond drafted the White House-backed bill, but the Democrat has since negotiated with Hoyer and House Judiciary panel Chairman John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.) and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Silvestre Reyes (D-Texas) to reach middle ground. The House Democrats strongly oppose retroactive-immunity language in the White House bill, which was approved by the Senate this year.

Republicans offered a compromise before Memorial Day that would allow the secret FISA court to determine whether such legal protections are needed. Hoyer said Wednesday that the proposal was a “positive step” but had not yet addressed all the concerns.

“We’ve also had very positive talks with the White House, as you know, and we continue to have those,” Hoyer said, expecting a deal soon.

Tony Fratto, a White House spokesman, declined to comment.

The negotiations are now taking place among Hoyer, McConnell, Reyes and Conyers, Rockefeller said.

Wendy Morigi, a spokeswoman for Rockefeller, said that the reason why Democratic talks were occurring strictly with Mike McConnell, director of national intelligence (DNI), is because the ball is in the Democrats’ court after Bond and House Republicans floated the compromise proposal just before Memorial Day.

“Now the negotiations are just among the Democrats and DNI,” Morigi said. “Not that Bond is kept out; rather, the stage we’re at is it is in the Dems’ court, so we’re working through what changes we can make — and consulting with the DNI.”