WASHINGTON—The Democratic-led House defied President Bush Friday by adjourning without replacing an expiring anti-terrorism spy law with one that would shield telephone companies from lawsuits.
With the temporary law set to expire Saturday night, Bush accused Democratic lawmakers of undermining the safety of the United States while House Democrats countered that he was engaging in election-year fear-mongering.
"When they come back from that 12-day recess, the House leaders must understand that the decision they made to block good legislation has made it harder for us to protect you the American people," Bush said after meeting with Republican congressional leaders.
"We expect now to get a good bill to my desk—which is the Senate bill—to my desk as soon as possible," Bush said.
Bush spoke hours before his departure on a six-day trip to Africa. He had offered to delay it to try to reach an agreement with lawmakers on a stalled surveillance bill, but prepared to leave after it became clear none would be reached immediately.
The Senate Tuesday passed a bill to replace the so-called "Protect America Act" that broadened the power of the government to track enemy targets without a court order.
But House Democrats refused to bring that measure up for a vote, complaining it failed to adequately protect the privacy rights of American citizens.
Their main objection, however, is a provision to provide retroactive immunity to telecommunication companies that participated in the warrantless domestic spying program Bush secretly began shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks.
About 40 civil lawsuits have been filed accusing AT&T Inc, Verizon Communications Inc and Sprint Nextel Corp of violating Americans' privacy rights by helping the warrantless domestic spying program.
Democrats Say No Increased Risk
House Democratic Leader Steny Hoyer, who led the opposition to the Senate-passed bill, said, "Democrats are ready to sit down with the White House and Republicans in Congress to work together to craft strong, bipartisan legislation."
Hoyer again rejected Bush's contention that expiration of the law would place the United States at increased risk.
"A wide range of national security experts has made clear that the president and our intelligence community have all the tools they need," Hoyer said.
Democrats note that spy operations begun under the Protect America Act could continue for up to a year. They also note that new ones could begin with a court order.
The administration contends, however, that obtaining court orders could be time-consuming and result in authorities failing to quickly track and even lose enemy targets.
Director of National Intelligence Michael McConnell said in a Washington Post opinion piece Friday it was getting harder to win surveillance cooperation from telephone companies due to the uncertainty over new legislation, and an expiration of the act would make it difficult to establish new wiretaps.
"Expiration would lead to the loss of important tools our workforce relies on to discover the locations, intentions and capabilities of terrorists and other foreign intelligence targets abroad," McConnell wrote.
House Democratic leaders proposed a 21-day extension of the law to provide time to resolve differences. But with Bush threatening to veto what would have been a second short-term extension, the full House rejected it.
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