Rockefeller predicts Senate passage of FISA deal

Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) predicted Tuesday that there is enough support within the Democratic Conference to approve a contentious overhaul of the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).

“If the bill comes out as I think it will, it will pass,” Rockefeller said before heading to a conference lunch.

{mosads}The development comes after Rockefeller, Sen. Kit Bond (R-Mo.), House Minority Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) and the Bush administration reached an accord late last week to break a weeks-long stalemate over balancing electronic surveillance with the right to privacy for American citizens, according to several people familiar with the talks.

A deal is not final because each side is taking the bill to its respective conference to gauge support. But failing to enact a FISA bill would leave each side accusing the other of leaving the country vulnerable to a terrorist attack amid an already tense election year.

Language could be unveiled as early as Wednesday and final votes in each chamber could happen soon after, one congressional source said Tuesday.

The compromise, which is being finalized behind closed doors, attempts to split the difference over the hot-button issue of whether telephone companies deserve retroactive immunity for assisting in government surveillance after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. According to people familiar with the draft, the language gives federal district courts a role in determining whether companies should be given immunity for the role they played in eavesdropping on telephone calls. Republicans had initially sought blanket immunity, saying that companies would no longer assist with government surveillance if they were being sued for their efforts. Democrats said that immunity should not be awarded to companies that were breaking the law.

The compromise has so far not satisfied privacy-rights groups. The Electronic Frontier Foundation and the American Civil Liberties Union are planning a Wednesday teleconference to criticize the anticipated deal, which they call a giveaway to the White House and the phone companies.

Stacey Bernards, a spokeswoman for Hoyer, said Tuesday that the deal is not yet final.

“Whatever we produce will make the necessary fixes to the FISA law, enhance protection of civil liberties and not provide immunity to telecoms or anyone else for the president's program,” Bernards said.