FISA Update

Telecom Immunity Still In Play
The US Senate will consider 15 amendments to proposed FISA legislation this week, bringing last week's impasse to a negotiated close.

Sens. Russ Feingold (D-WI) and Chris Dodd (D-CT) are leading the effort to strip telecommunications firm immunity from the bill. The three Democrats who serve on both Senate Judiciary and Intelligence Committees -- Feingold, Dianne Feinstein (CA) and Sheldon Whitehouse (RI) -- oppose the immunity provision. The version of the bill reported out of the Intelligence Committee contained immunity; the version reported out of Judiciary did not.

The House version of the bill does not contain an immunity provision.

Senate Intelligence Committe Chair Jay Rockefeller (D-WVA) is arguing for immunity. From OpenSecrets: he has four telecomm-related firms in his top 20 contributors (AT&T Inc, 2; Time Warner, 5; Verizon, 7; National Cable & Telecommunications Assn, 20). He is standing for re-election in 2008.

Last week, the House and Senate extended the expiration date for the current legislation to 15 February. US Politics readers are overwhelming opposed to telecom immunity.

^{Related: What is cloture? ; What is FISA? ; What is the RESTORE Act? ; What is the wiretapping issue? ; What happened in August to make warrantless wiretaps temporarily legal? ; FISA Reports to Congress, 1979-2006 ; Getting To Know Your Government: The Senate}