Friday, October 26, 2007

White House to Let 2 Senators View Documents on Wiretaps

The White House has agreed to let the two top members of the Senate Judiciary Committee view the legal memos underpinning the administration's warrantless surveillance program so they can consider legislation that would give telecommunications companies that aided the government's program protection from privacy lawsuits.

Committee Chairman Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) and Sen. Arlen Specter (Pa.), the ranking Republican, will be allowed to view the presidential authorizations and Justice Department legal opinions related to the program, which began after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and was put under court oversight in January, government officials said. The panel had subpoenaed the memos, along with other documents, in June.

Congress is considering carrier immunity as part of an effort to revise the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which regulates wiretapping on U.S. soil.

Leahy and Specter can designate other committee members to view the documents as well, White House spokesman Tony Fratto said.

Last week, the Senate intelligence committee was given access to the memos and passed an immunity measure, over the objections of several Democrats.

House Democrats have balked at considering the offer of immunity until they, too, see the documents, which they requested months ago.

-- Ellen Nakashima

House sponsors of a resolution that would label the 1915 killing of Armenians a genocide have asked Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to delay a vote on the measure because of fears it will not pass.

Support for the resolution weakened this month after Turkey recalled its ambassador in protest and after several lawmakers expressed their concern that it would cripple U.S.-Turkish relations.

"We believe that a large majority of our colleagues want to support a resolution recognizing the genocide on the House floor and they will do so, provided the timing is more favorable," the lawmakers said in a letter.

-- Associated Press

Two key Senate Democrats said their votes on attorney general nominee Michael B. Mukasey will hinge on whether he will declare that an interrogation technique that simulates drowning is torture.

"It's fair to say my vote would depend on him answering that question," Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick J. Leahy (Vt.) told reporters. "This to me is the seminal issue," said Majority Whip Richard J. Durbin (Ill.), a member of Leahy's panel. Asked if his vote will depend on whether Mukasey will call waterboarding torture, he said, "It does."

-- Associated Press