Sixty-Nine Senators Betray Liberty
Pamela Hess, HuffPost
Bowing to President Bush's demands, the Senate sent the White House a bill
Wednesday overhauling bitterly disputed rules on secret government
eavesdropping and shielding telecommunications companies from lawsuits
complaining they helped the U.S.
spy on Americans.
The relatively one-sided vote, 69-28, came only after a lengthy and heated
debate that pitted privacy and civil liberties concerns against the desire to
prevent terrorist attacks. It ended almost a year of wrangling over
surveillance rules and the president's warrantless wiretapping program that was
initiated after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
The House passed the same bill last month, and Bush said he would sign it
soon.
Opponents assailed the eavesdropping program, asserting that it imperiled
citizens' rights of privacy from government intrusion. But Bush said the
legislation protects those rights as well as Americans' security.
"This bill will help our intelligence professionals learn who the
terrorists are talking to, what they're saying and what they're planing,"
he said in a brief White House appearance after the Senate vote.
+++
Sen. Barack Obama voted for the compromise while Sen. Hillary Clinton voted
against it.