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Advocacy Blog
Friday, November 16, 2007
House Passes RESTORE Act and Senate Judiciary Avoid Telecom Immunity
After the RESTORE Act (HR 3773) was pulled from the House floor about a month ago, the House passed the bill with a vote of 227-189 after a Motion to Recommit was defeated. The House ignored a veto threat and passed the bill to amend the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) hours after the Senate Judiciary Committee, also ignoring the veto threat, voted 10-9, to send their bill to the full Senate. The White House favors the bill as passed by the Senate Intelligence Committee.
The Senate Judiciary held a hearing to mark up the Senate Intelligence Committee's S.2248. The issue of telecommunications immunity proved to be so divisive that it was simply avoided. First the committee approved an amended version of the first title in the bill which deals with how surveillance is conducted. Senators were then unable to find any agreement on the more controversial second title, which grants retroactive legal immunity to telecommunications companies that helped the administration with its warrantless surveillance program. Committee Chairman Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) then offered reporting the bill out of committee with only the first title, which passed 10-9. The issue of immunity will now be taken up at a later date, as the bill moves to the floor as approved by the Intelligence committee and the version passed by the Judiciary will be considered as an amendment.
Update:CQ ($$) reports that the Senate Judiciary Committee had planned a continuation of yesterday's (Nov.15) meeting to approve what took place, advancing the bill without the telecom provision. There was some confusion whether a majority of members were actually present for that vote.
Read the story in the New York Times and the Washington Post.
While promising, the actions that occurred in the House and Senate further complicate any chances of invalidating the reckless Protect America Act passed in August; language reported out of the Judiciary committee compared to the Intelligence committee, along with the House's version, and the President's stated veto threats. It is questionable if any legislation is approved before the PAA expires in February.
Posted by Amanda Adams
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