Intellectual Property Law

House Democrats aren't backing down from a confrontation from President Bush over a spying expansion bill that grants amnesty to telecoms, prompting House Republicans to walk out en masse in protest.

A massive, but temporary, expansion of the government's power to spy without warrants is set to expire Friday, and President Bush says he'll refuse to sign any extension to that law, known as the Protect America Act.  House Democrats want time to reconcile the bill they passed in November with the Administration-friendly bill passed by the Senate Tuesday.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-California) slammed the Administration's tactics, inverting President Franklin D. Roosevelt's famous quote: "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."

"The President tells the American people he has nothing to offer but fear," Pelosi said. "We understand the value of collecting terrorism information [...] and when we come to terms over the bill, it will be a vast improvement over the Protect America Act and the bill passed gby the Senate."

At issue is amnesty for telecom companies facing some 40 lawsuits for turning over Americans' phone records and helping the government wiretap inside the United States without getting court orders as required by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. The House Democratic leadership opposes immunity, and its bill also puts sharper limits on warrantless surveillance conducted inside the United States and specifically refutes the President's argument that he has power to order extra-judicial, domestic wiretaps because he's the Commander in Chief.

Today, President Bush said he would delay his scheduled departure for a trip to Africa in order to be around for the House passing the Senate bill, but still won't sign an extension of the temporary blank spying check passed last summer..

"You have to come to the conclusion that there is a threat or not a threat to America," Bush said. "And some people just don't feel that sense of urgency."

In a sharp exchange on the Senate floor, Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Maryland), the House Majority Leader, castigated the Republicans for walking out

"The time we asked for ? which is the normal legislative process to fashion a bill that both houses can agree -- to was denied to us yesterday by a unanimous vote of the minority party," Hoyer said. "On the one hand, [the Republicans] say we ought to do something, but on the other hand they walk out to preclude us from doing something."

One of the few remaining Republicans, Rep. David Dreier (D-California) defended the Republican press for the House to take up the Senate bill, saying "There is an urgency at this moment."

Hoyer exploded at the comment.

"There is no urgency," Hoyer said. "That is a claim made to stampede this House and the American people."

Moments later in a press conference, Rep. John Boehner (R-Ohio) accused Democrats of putting American lives at risk.

"If the Protect America Act is allowed to expire, Americans will be at risk," Boehner said, though on Wednesday, Boehner, like all House Republicans voted against extending that bill for three weeks.

Democrats chairing the Intelligence and Judiciary committees in both Houses are already talking about compromises, Pelosi said, and the House Rules committee has left open the possibility of adopting compromise legislation on Thursday or Friday, before the President's Day weekend break.

But Bush says he will veto any bill that does not include amnesty for the telecoms that helped with his five-year warrantless spying program, saying that if Congress does not do so, companies will be reluctant to help in the future. However, such lack of voluntary cooperation would not hinder spying by the government since the new powers proposed for the government allows the NSA to order cooperation, and traditional spy wiretaps are conducted using court orders that must be obeyed by phone and internet companies.