http://enews.earthlink.net/article/top?guid=20080709/487437c0_3ca6_15526200807091840461860
Senate commits to ****elding telecoms from suits
By PAMELA HESS (Associated Press Writer)
From Associated Press
July 09, 2008 12:37 PM EDT
WA****NGTON - The Senate on Wednesday affirmed its intention to protect
from
civil lawsuits telecom companies that helped the government wiretap
Americans without court authorization after the Sept. 11 attacks.
It turned back three amendments that were offered during final debate on a
bill that overhauls the rules on secret government eavesdropping.
The votes suggest the surveillance bill will pass by an easy margin later
Wednesday, and signal an end to almost a year of wrangling between the
House
and Senate, Democrats and Republicans, and Congress and the White House
over
the president's warrantless wiretapping program.
The House approved the surveillance overhaul last month.
The long fight on Capitol Hill has centered on one question: whether to
****eld from civil lawsuits telecommunications companies that helped the
government eavesdrop on American phone and computer lines after the 9/11
terrorist attacks, without the permission or knowledge of a secret court
created by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.
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Democrats in an election year know that the country is broadly
conservative.
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Sincerely Yours,
Brian Carey
On November 4, I'm voting: Straight Republican. Totally Republican. 100%
Republican. Only Republican. All Republican. Nothing but Republican.
Thoroughly Republican. Completely Republican.
