Democrats defy Bush, approve spy bill

DEMOCRATS DEFY BUSH, APPROVE SPY BILL
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Thomas Ferraro and Randall Mikkelsen]
In defiance of President George W. Bush (R), the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday voted to bolster civil-liberty safeguards in his anti-terror spying program and refused to shield phone companies from pending lawsuits. In a 20-14 vote, the Committee approved legislation to ensure congressional and secret-court oversight of the surveillance of enemy targets. The measure would require the administration to obtain one-year "blanket warrants" from the U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to monitor telephone calls or e-mails of suspected terrorists when they involve a U.S. citizen. It would not require individual warrants to listen in on Americans communicating with terrorists, unless the U.S. citizen is also a specific target of the surveillance. No warrant would be needed to monitor foreign suspects speaking to each other overseas. Pending consideration of the bill by the House Intelligence Committee, which worked on it behind closed doors, Democrats hope to get it before the full House for passage next week. The Senate Intelligence Committee is working on its own measure.
http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSN1025071120071010

* House Panels Vote for More Scrutiny Over Foreign Eavesdropping
The House Judiciary and Intelligence Committees, along party lines, rejected President Bush’s request to renew the government’s broad eavesdropping authority, and instead adopted a measure that would give federal judges greater oversight and more scrutiny over electronic surveillance conducted overseas by the National Security Agency.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/11/washington/11nsa.html?ref=todayspaper

* President Bush Discusses Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Legislation
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/10/20071010.html

* White House Fights Democratic Changes to Surveillance Act
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/10/AR200710...

* Wiretap laws face new static
A political debate about how to craft U.S. wiretapping laws has run aground on what might seem to be a minor point: Should telecommunications companies that may have illegally opened their networks to intelligence agencies be immunized from lawsuits?
http://www.news.com/Wiretap-laws-face-new-static/2100-1028_3-6212777.htm...

* Steny Hoyer: Amnesty for Telecom Corporate Criminals Who Spy on You
http://openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=1814

* Free Press: No Immunity for Telco Spying
http://www.freepress.net/press/release.php?id=280