Lack of Progress Seen in Shutting Down Bush's Warantless Wiretapping Program
It's been almost a year since the public learned of President Bush's warrantless NSA electronic surveillance program.
Under the Republican leadership in Congress, nothing much happened to shut it down. A lot of bad bills, such as Sen. Arlen Specter's, were tossed around but went nowhere.
What will change in January when Democrats have a majority in Congress? Not enough, from my vantage point, but here's the lowdown:
While the Democrats have vowed to press for more facts about the operation, they are of mixed minds about additional steps.
Some favor an aggressive strategy that would brand the program illegal and move to ban it even as the courts consider its legality. Others are more cautious, emphasizing the rule of law but not giving Republicans the chance to accuse them of depriving the government of important anti-terrorism tools.
Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, who will take over as House speaker in January, favors an investigation to determine how the security agency’s program actually operated and what its legal framework is under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978, a senior aide to Ms. Pelosi said.
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