U.S. Senate Passes Bill To Expand Government's Spying Powers

The Senate debate amounted to a proxy vote not only on the president's warrantless wiretapping program, but also on a range of other issues that tested the president's wartime authority, from secret detentions to wiretapping issues. The discussion in effect presaged the debate over national security that will play out this year in the presidential and congressional elections. Senator Christopher Dodd of Connecticut, who spoke on the Senate floor for more than 20 hours in an unsuccessful effort to stall the wiretapping bill, said the vote would be remembered by future generations as a test of whether the country heeds "the rule of law or the rule of men." But with Democrats defecting to the White House plan, he acknowledged that the national security issue had won the day in the Senate, even among many of his Democratic colleagues. "Unfortunately, those who are advocating this notion that you have to give up liberties to be more secure are apparently prevailing," Dodd said. "They're convincing people that we're at risk either politically, or at risk as a nation." With resistance led by Dodd and Senators Russ Feingold of Wisconsin, critics of the administration's plan argued that it effectively rewarded phone companies by providing them with legal insulation for actions that violated longstanding law and their own fiduciary responsibilities to their customers. Immunity would protect the phone companies from some 40 lawsuits now pending that charge the firms broke the law by taking part in the program. But supporters of the plan said the phone carriers acted out of patriotism after the Sept. 11 attacks in complying with what they believed in good faith was a legally binding order from the president. Republicans were able to garner the support of 19 Democrats and Senator Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut. Democratic leaders charged that the tactics the Republicans used smacked of fear-mongering. ... http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/02/13/america/12cndfisa.php

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