Obama Joins Fellow Senators in Passing New Wiretapping Measure

Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV noted that FISA and its secret courts would now have the final say on government spying. (By Linda Davidson -- The Washington Post)
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"I sit on the intelligence and Judiciary committees, and I am one of the few members of this body who has been fully briefed on the warrantless wiretapping program," said Sen. Russell Feingold (D-Wis.), another prominent opponent. "I can promise that if more information is declassified about the program in the future, as is likely to happen . . . members of this body will regret that we passed this legislation."

But Obama and his allies, including Senate intelligence Chairman John D. Rockefeller IV (D-W.Va.) and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), countered that FISA and its secret courts would now have the final say on government spying. They pointed to a new "exclusivity" provision as a critical addition guaranteeing that no president could evade court authority in ordering wiretaps, overriding Bush's claim that a wartime president holds the ultimate authority.

Obama's GOP opponents saw a more calculated motive, aimed at sharpening the Democrat's appeal to centrist voters in general-election battleground states. Hours before the vote, the Republican National Committee circulated an Obama statement dated Dec. 17, 2007, asserting that he "unequivocally opposes giving retroactive immunity to telecommunications companies," and would support a filibuster to stop the bill from passing.

McCain, campaigning in Pittsburgh, was absent for the vote. The senator from Arizona has now missed three straight months of votes on the Senate floor, his last vote coming on April 8 on an energy amendment.

Caroline Fredrickson, Washington director of the American Civil Liberties Union, a leader of the opposition, said that the next president will quickly be confronted with other secret surveillance issues. Three provisions in the USA Patriot Act are set to expire next year, including one that grants wide latitude in accessing the library and health records of suspected terrorists.

Liberal opponents of Bush's use of anti-terrorism powers aim to test the next administration by turning the debate about those small provisions into a broader dialogue about the Patriot Act. "You can bet we'll be mounting a fight to fix the Patriot Act that will be bigger than the three expiring provisions," Fredrickson said.

Rockefeller called the new FISA bill "vastly better" than previous versions and "a major, major piece of legislation" that "will serve our nation well." But he also noted that the new FISA language also will expire during the next president's first term. "He will be able to review, along with us, what we have done," the senator said.

Staff writer Paul Kane contributed to this report.