Senate Deal on Immunity for Phone Companies

SENATE DEAL ON IMMUNITY FOR PHONE COMPANIES
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Eric Lichtblau]
Leaders of the Senate Intelligence Committee reached a tentative agreement on Wednesday with the Bush administration that would give telephone carriers legal immunity for any role they played in the National Security Agency’s domestic eavesdropping program approved by President Bush after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Senators this week began reviewing classified documents related to the participation of the telephone carriers in the security agency program and came away from that early review convinced that the companies had “acted in good faith” in cooperating with what they believed was a legal and presidentially authorized program and that they should not be punished through civil litigation for their roles. As part of legislation on the security agency’s wiretapping authorities, the White House has been pushing hard for weeks to get immunity for the telecommunications companies.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/18/washington/18nsa.html?ref=todayspaper
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* Senate and Bush Agree On Terms of Spying Bill
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/17/AR2007101702438.html

* House GOP derails spy measure
The vote on the bill, which seeks to expand court oversight of U.S. operations, is delayed until at least next week.
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-na-fisa18oct18,1,6389488.story?coll=la-news-a_section