Detainee Bill Advances, Wiretap Stalls
Half of President Bush's antiterrorism legislative agenda stalled Tuesday when discord among Republicans forced GOP leaders to give up on trying to legalize his warrantless wiretapping program before the Nov. 7 election.
Republican lawmakers instead turned their attention to the other half — establishing a legal framework for detaining, interrogating and trying terrorism suspects before military commissions. The House and the Senate were set to consider the detainee bill on Wednesday.
Bush kept up his call for Congress to pass both measures.
"If al Qaeda or al Qaeda affiliates are calling somebody in the country, we need to know why. That's why Congress needs to pass that piece of legislation," Bush said during a news conference with Afghan President Hamid Karzai.
Bush also pitched for the bill defining terrorism suspects' legal rights as it progressed toward certain floor votes. The House is scheduled to act Wednesday on it; Senate action is expected later this week.
"If somebody's got information about a potential attack, we need to be able to ask that person some questions. And so Congress has got to pass that piece of legislation," Bush said.
Even as he spoke, Republicans on Capitol Hill made clear that Congress is likely to grant only half of his request by week's end, when lawmakers leave town to defend their House and Senate majorities leading up to the elections.
Vast differences between House and Senate versions of the wiretapping bill cannot be bridged before week's end, two GOP leadership aides said on condition of anonymity because the decision had not yet been announced.
House Majority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, said the House was on track to pass its version, sponsored by Rep. Heather Wilson, R-N.M., as soon as Thursday. Asked if differences with the Senate would be worked out, Boehner replied, "We'd like to, but I think that might be a stretch."
In the Senate, an agreement between Bush and Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter, R-Pa., on the surveillance program remained stalled Tuesday in the Intelligence Committee.
Wilson herself said last week she doubted Congress could pass a bill and send it to Bush this week. She predicted that the differences will be worked out in a lame-duck session after the election. But prospects there were uncertain, too, given polls indicating that Democrats could gain seats after Election Day.
The detainees bill would establish a court system to prosecute terrorism suspects. The Supreme Court ruled in June that only Congress could do that.
A terrorist being held at Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba could be tried by "military commission" as long as he is afforded the ability to review evidence against him and have access to defense counsel. The bill also sets legal bounds on how the CIA interrogates terrorism suspects.
Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said Tuesday that Democrats will propose changes to a Republican plan for terror trials, including who can be prosecuted as a terrorist and his ability to protest his detention in court.
Reid, however, indicated that his party does not want to stand in the way of its passage, all but ensuring it will. "I repeat, we all want to make sure these bad people are brought to justice," he said.
Democrats were expected to side with Specter on his effort to reinstate the right of detainees to appeal their detentions in court.
The bill, negotiated with the White House, would strip federal courts of jurisdiction over cases in which detainees have not been charged with war crimes. Sen. John Warner, R-Va., said he thought the disagreement would have to be settled on the floor.
Reid said he expects an amendment on the bill's definition of an "unlawful enemy combatant." Since Senate Republicans reached a deal with the White House last week, Republican lawmakers have agreed to broaden the definition of people subject to terror trials to cover those who knowingly finance terrorist operations, according to proponents of the measure. The bill would not apply to U.S. citizens.