GOP Pushes FISA Aside For Economic Stimulus

President Bush has threatened to veto any FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) reauthorization unless it provides immunity for telecommunications companies that complied with White House requests for warrantless wiretaps.

But Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said, "Just as soon as we have an understanding about how we're going to go forward on the stimulus package, then we'll be able to make progress on this [FISA] bill."

In November, the House passed the RESTORE bill, which would modify FISA (written in 1978) but which did not provide immunity from lawsuits. A 1 February deadline came and went after Congress passed a 15-day extension, which Bush signed. After last week's filibuster votes, both sides had agreed to begin voting Tuesday on a limited set of amendments.

But now the Republicans want to shift focus to the economy while the clock runs down. If the Senate passes a different version of the bill from the House version, then a conference committee has to hammer out a compromise. Each day without movement on the bill increases the odds that the deadline will not be met.

^{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}