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As lawmakers hurry to clear their legislative plates before rushing home for Christmas dinner, it appears all-but-certain that Congress will not finish work to update a foreign spy law before the new year.
But votes expected this week and next in the Senate have civil libertarians worried about their prospects to block a proposal that would free telecommunications companies from legal oversight of their facilitation of President Bush's post-9/11 warrantless wiretapping scheme.
As the timeline appears to be shaking out, Democrats seem headed for an 11th-hour showdown with the White House over updates to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. In a similar showdown this summer, Republicans said a failure to act on FISA would endanger the country. On its way out the door for summer vacation, Congress passed a temporary update to the law that was widely panned for its lack of judicial oversight and constitutional protections.
Although Democrats succeeded in keeping telecom immunity out of the August bill, it seems likely to worm its way into this latest version, at least in the Senate, despite voracious opposition from prominent Democrats there, including all the party's presidential candidates.
"People who had some faith that
were going to live up to their campaign promises are a little disappointed," Caroline Fredrickson, the top Washington lobbyist for the American Civil Liberties Union, told RAW STORY Friday.
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Link: http://rawstory.com/news/2007/President_unlikely_to_see_wiretap_bill_1213.html
Well... we'll know soon enough, eh?
:banghead: