Bush Wins Passage of Spy Bill to Protect Telecoms

The measure would replace a temporary spy law that expired in February and modernize the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

U.S. President George W. Bush won final congressional approval on Wednesday of liability protection for telecommunication companies that took part in the warrantless domestic spying program he began after the Sept. 11 attacks.

The bill would shield these firms from potentially billions of dollars in damages from privacy lawsuits and implement the biggest overhaul of U.S. spy laws in three decades.

On a vote of 69-28, the Senate approved the measure, previously passed by the House of Representatives, and prepared to send the legislation to Bush to sign into law.

With Bush's term set to end in January, the vote marked perhaps one his final major triumphs on Capitol Hill and drew a firestorm of criticism from civil liberties groups.

The measure would replace a temporary spy law that expired in February and modernize the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, to keep pace with changing technology.

It would also bolster judicial and congressional oversight of U.S. surveillance of foreign targets and increase protection of civil liberties of law-abiding Americans swept up in such spy efforts -- but not as much as critics charge is needed.

The bill authorizes U.S. intelligence agencies to eavesdrop, without court approval, on foreign targets believed to be outside the United States.

Critics complain this allows warrantless surveillance of the phone calls and e-mails of Americans who communicate with them. The bill seeks to minimize such eavesdropping on Americans, but foes say the safeguards are inadequate.

"The bill will keep us safe and protect our liberties," said U.S. Sen. Christopher Bond, a Missouri Republican and a lead sponsor of the bipartisan compromise measure.

"This bill is not a compromise. It is a capitulation," complained Sen. Russ Feingold, a Wisconsin Democrat.