A Spy Scramble

Congressional and administration officials say the inter- and intraparty disputes on the telecom immunity issue are so tangled and intense that it is close to impossible for both houses of Congress to agree on a permanent new electronic-surveillance bill before the current bill expires on Feb. 1. Consequently, parties on both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue are privately discussing new temporary fixes.

One such fix, which some Senate Democrats and administration officials appear to favor, would involve temporarily extending the existing electronic-surveillance law, known as the Protect America Act, for one month beyond the current Feb. 1 expiration date. This would give Congress more time to work out differences—and allow the Bush administration more time to lobby against the House bill and for its preferred provisions in the Senate bill.

Jim Manley, a spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, said that Reid backed the idea of a one-month extension. Manley noted that the Senate is not even scheduled to be back in session until Jan. 22, leaving little time for debate and negotiations between House and Senate over their competing bills.

Some Senate Democrats are discussing another alternative: seeking a temporary extension to the current law for a year. The point of this option, as explained by a congressional official who asked for anonymity when discussing sensitive deliberations, would be to postpone the whole process of revising the electronic-surveillance law until after the next president is inaugurated. Democrats in favor of such a move believe it would kick the decision down the road until, they hope, the party has control of the White House as well as both houses of Congress—strengthening the Democrats' hand in writing a surveillance bill much more to their liking.

But some Democrats on Capitol Hill question whether the current GOP minority--which, in the Senate, at least, has the power to block legislation—would accept a one-year extension to the current law. These Democrats fear that punting on the issue until after the next Inauguration would lead to GOP charges that Democrats were being unpatriotic and impeding the War on Terror. Some Democrats remember all too well last summer, when the GOP used such tactics to force Congress to pass the current Protect America legislation, which critics regard as flawed and overly permissive.

Shortly before Christmas, National Intelligence Director McConnell issued a statement saying that he had spoken with Senator Reid, "expressed the critical need for permanent legislation," and also voiced "significant concerns about temporary extensions of the Protect America Act." Today a spokeswoman for McConnell reiterated that "Our preference is to have a permanent, long-term fix."