Lawmakers Call for Hearings

Separately, more than 50 House Democrats signed a letter to Bush last night calling on him to appoint a special counsel to investigate NSA eavesdropping practices.

But Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) said Congress is adequately briefed and "calls for further oversight are unnecessary."

Some of his GOP colleagues appeared almost eager to provoke a partisan fight over wiretaps, with or without warrants.

"To suggest that there's some sort of coverup is not correct, and the motivation of those who would suggest otherwise is obvious," Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.) said at yesterday's Judiciary Committee hearing where Feinstein and others spoke. "We need to be conscious of what's at stake: the security and safety of the American people."

Some liberal activists have cautioned Democrats to move carefully, warning that there are more promising targets because many Americans appear to back Bush's claim that warrantless wiretaps are vital in fighting terrorism. "This issue is a liability for the administration, but given their choices of talking about spying or Iraq or gas prices, they'll take spying, where the American public is split," said Jennifer M. Palmieri, spokeswoman for the liberal Center for American Progress.

Still, some Democrats from states carried by Bush in 2000 and 2004 were among the sharpest critics of the data collection allegations. Sen Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), who faces reelection this fall, called on the Energy and Commerce Committee to investigate "how and why phone companies voluntarily turned over to the NSA detailed records of calls their customers reportedly made to family members, co-workers, business contacts and others," his office said.

Sen. Ken Salazar (D-Colo.) said in a statement, "I have long been concerned about the NSA's domestic spying program and today's media reports only reinforce that concern. . . . The Senate must seek answers from Gen. Hayden."

While Frist and others were defending Bush and Hayden at a news conference just off the Senate floor, the CIA nominee dashed into a meeting with Majority Whip Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) a few feet away. Asked about the USA Today report when he emerged, Hayden replied: "All I would want to say is that everything that NSA does is lawful and very carefully done, and that the appropriate members of the Congress, House and Senate, are briefed on all NSA activities." White House spokeswoman Dana Perino told reporters, "We're full steam ahead on his nomination."

In the House, Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said she asked Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) "for an immediate congressional review of news reports that the federal government may be collecting information on the phone calls of millions of ordinary Americans."