Did Wyden plant a virus to kill a morally defective bill?
WASHINGTON, Oct. 18 — The Senate Intelligence Committee voted Thursday night to approve compromise legislation that would strengthen court oversight of eavesdropping on Americans while granting telephone and Internet companies legal immunity for their role in assisting government surveillance programs since 2001.
After nearly five hours of closed discussions, Senator John D. Rockefeller IV of West Virginia, the Democratic chairman, and Senator Christopher S. Bond of Missouri, the Republican vice chairman, emerged to announce that the measure had been approved in a 13-to-2 vote.
“There were substantial compromises on the part of all members and, frankly, of the administration,” Mr. Rockefeller said of the measure, which would expire in six years. Two Democratic senators, Russ Feingold of Wisconsin and Ron Wyden of Oregon, cast the no votes.
But passage in the committee came with one unexpected hitch. In an interview after the closed session, Mr. Wyden said he had succeeded, by a vote of 9 to 6, in adding an amendment that would offer additional protections by requiring that the government get a warrant whenever it wanted to wiretap an American outside the country, like an American soldier based overseas or a business person.
“The individual freedom of an American shouldn’t depend on their physical geography,” he said.
But Mr. Wyden said the administration vigorously opposed that measure and was threatening to veto any final bill if it is included.
House Democrats have also raised questions about the compromise, which emerged after the Bush administration agreed to share documents related to the secret eavesdropping program with the Senate committee. Other committees have demanded access to the same documents.
In addition, Senator Christopher J. Dodd, a Connecticut Democrat who is running for president, announced on his campaign Web site Thursday that he would put a hold on the proposed bill. That legislative maneuver would create another obstacle.
Of course, a Senate/House joint committee could strip out the Wyden provision still, but if they don’t we’ll get the enjoyable prospect of watching Bush kill his own telco immunity scam.
I continue to hope the House won’t cave on the immunity scam that their own version left out.
And remind me again why Russ Feingold isn’t running for president? After his verdict on this bill, we should at least try to get him to replace the Senate Majority Weakling Reid.
