Bingaman's FISA amendment fails
New Mexico Sen. Jeff Bingaman's amendment to withhold immunity from the telecom companies pending an Inspector General's report failed by a vote of 42-56 Wednesday. NM's GOP Sen. Pete Domenici was one of the opponents to the amendment.
Bingaman's amendment was one of three to fail Wednesday on a bill that would restore the authority of the FISA court on all surveillance activities directed at American citizens, requiring warrants. But it would also grant retroactive immunity to the telecom companies that are threatened with a number of lawsuits that allege their cooperation with the Bush administration was illegal.
All three amendments were meant to hold the telecom companies to account for their cooperation in the administration's warrantless wiretapping program, which, in the name of fighting terrorism, allowed the National Security Agency to intercept some domestic communications without a court order. The program was launched shortly after the 9/11 attacks, but wasn't exposed until The New York Times broke the story in late 2005.
An earlier amendment from Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd failed 32-66, as did an amendment from Pennsylvania GOP Sen. Arlen Specter, which went down by a vote of 37 to 61.
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