Congressional Democrats remain unable to bring themselves to authorize intercepts of phone calls by terrorists into the United States. Instead, Congress has cleared legislation to extend such surveillance by just 15 days — hoping that they can come to agreement on a long-term fix in that time. The only problem is that such a fix has eluded them for months.
The House on Tuesday passed a 15-day extension (HR 5104) of the temporary surveillance law (PL 110-55) by voice vote, with the goal of giving lawmakers in both chambers more time to work on a more comprehensive overhaul. The Senate cleared it by voice vote. The extension would keep the current law in force until Feb. 16, the day before lawmakers are scheduled to begin their Presidents Day recess. Bush is expected to sign the bill, after vowing to veto earlier Democratic proposals to enact a 30-day extension.
Do Democrats imagine that national security will not be an important issue in this year’s presidential campaign?
