Bush Wants Congress to Act ASAP on Surveillance Bill
President Bush said Thursday he is “disappointed” that Congress failed to pass bills immunizing telecom providers for their alleged roles in a post-Sept. 11 warrantless wiretapping program. “The first priority of Congress when it returns in the new year must be to pass a good bill and get it to my desk promptly,” Bush told a press briefing. “They have a duty to give our professionals the tools necessary to protect the American people.”
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Bush chastised Congress for passing a 6-month bill (S-1927) in August updating the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which expires Feb. 1. “It wasn’t perfect, but it was good,” he said. The bill closed “dangerous gaps in our intelligence” and strengthened U.S. ability to collect intelligence overseas, he added. The bill, which did not provide immunity to phone companies from legal challenges for participating in the spy program, was supposed to give Congress time to work out a long-term solution.
But the Senate failed this week to agree on a bill (S-2248) that the Senate Intelligence Committee passed offering immunity to phone companies. The Judiciary Committee balked at the provision, prompting friction between foes and backers of immunity. The bill’s other intelligence-related portions also were controversial. Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., was unable to broker a resolution before Congress recessed. Bush rejected Reid’s offer earlier this week to extend the bill for a month.
“The bill should include liability protection for companies that are facing multi-billion-dollar lawsuits, only because they are believed to have assisted in the efforts to defend our nation following the 9/11 attacks,” Bush said. Intelligence professionals should have “all the tools they need to keep us safe,” he said, repeating a message he gave Congress in the summer. Even if the Senate can come to terms on its bill, the House measure (HR-3773) is silent on telecom immunity. The White House has made it clear Bush won’t sign any bill without immunity.
Bush is expected to sign the $450 billion omnibus spending bill (HR-2764) that Congress passed 272-142 late Wednesday. Along with Internet access and Universal Service Fund provisions, the bill has a passage expanding Internet access for minority schools and colleges. Based on S-1650, sponsored by Sens. John Kerry, D-Mass., Mark Pryor, D-Ark., Gordon Smith, R-Ore., John Warner, R-Va., and James Webb, D-Va., the measure had popular support, passing by unanimous consent in the Senate Commerce Committee.
A second budget bill provision would exempt the Universal Service Fund from Antideficiency Act rules for another year, to prevent a delay in getting broadband funds to schools and libraries. Several bills pending in the 110th Congress would institutionalize that exemption, removing the need for annual Congressional action, but none has been enacted. Industry hailed the extension. “These issues are critical for our members serving rural high cost areas and will help avoid an interruption in universal service payments that would create a crisis for communications service providers and their customers,” said USTelecom President Walter McCormick.
The National Telecommunications Cooperative Association praised the universal service provision as well as another measure that would set FY 2008 funding levels for rural telecom programs. “We are extremely encouraged by Congress’ ongoing recognition of the importance of the Rural Utilities Service telecommunications program,” said Tom Wacker, the group’s president. The programs will speed rural broadband deployment, he said.
Congress has recessed, though the Senate will meet for a half-dozen planned pro forma sessions. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., contested Bush’s complaints that Congress is trying to block progress on the FISA update and other goals of his. “Next year, I hope the President will stop trying to block progress and work with Congress to deliver for the American people,” Pelosi said in a statement. If Bush doesn’t sign the budget bill by the Dec. 31 deadline, a continuing resolution that Congress passed will keep the government operating until the president can review the spending bill.