A Democratic proposal that would expand federal surveillance powers for six months avoids the sensitive question of whether telecommunications companies should be absolved of legal liabilities for aiding the government's intelligence activities.
[Jay Rockefeller]

The interim legislation, proposed yesterday by Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D., W.Va.), chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, would give the Bush administration expanded powers to monitor telecommunications traffic as part of its counterterrorism efforts.

The proposal, which still is being negotiated with the administration and doesn't yet have the full support of some key Democrats such as Sen. Russell Feingold of Wisconsin, would need to gain sweeping approval from the Senate and House this week to be approved before Congress leaves for its August recess. Last night, senior Republicans, led by Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and Kit Bond of Missouri offered their own interim fix to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act on behalf of the administration. Their plan differed from the Democratic plan in key elements, including how much say Attorney General Alberto Gonzales would have in devising rules for surveillance.

The American Civil Liberties Union and other groups have pursued civil cases against telephone companies, including AT&T Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc., alleging that the companies violated privacy laws by turning over customer information to federal investigators. At least one company, Qwest Communications International Inc., resisted the surveillance requests because they came without court orders.

The Bush administration has proposed that telecom companies be protected from liability for aiding government surveillance, including the National Security Agency's controversial warrantless-wiretap program. The Rockefeller plan doesn't address the question of liability.

The proposed interim law would let a secret court that administers the 1978 FISA law, not the attorney general alone, as the Bush administration would prefer, approve procedures governing surveillance of telecommunications between people abroad, and in the U.S., Democrats say they will update FISA later this year with a more permanent solution.