Three Senate bills to expand wiretap power

One bill was even co-sponsored by Dianne Feinstein, which expands the powers of the White House, but at least attempted to avoid completely abandoning Congressional oversight.

Under intense pressure from the White House, the Senate Judiciary Committee today approved legislation sponsored by Specter that would give legal status to Bush's warrantless wiretap program. The bill would allow -- but not require --Bush to submit the program for review by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, a secret tribunal before which the government is the only party allowed to present evidence or argument. The bill also would allow the administration to seek "program warrants," good for entire categories of wiretapping and monitoring activities, instead of the case-specific warrants that have been required (but, under Bush's program, weren't obtained) previously. (. . .)

The committee also approved two other wiretap measures today. The first, sponsored by Graham and Ohio Sen. Mike DeWine, would allow the administration to engage in surveillance for 45 days -- rather than three days, as set forth in the law currently -- before seeking a warrant. Like Specter's measure, that bill passed on a party-line, 10-8 vote. The second measure, sponsored by Specter and Sen. Dianne Feinstein, would provide the executive branch some additional wiretap authority but would also require more briefings on warrantless surveillance activities. It passed through the committee with the support of all of the Democrats and two Republicans, Specter and Graham.