Lobbyists Duel Over Rewrite of FISA Surveillance Law

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Lobbyists Duel Over Rewrite of Surveillance Law
By Tim Starks, CQ Staff

As lawmakers try to negotiate an overhaul of surveillance legislation, a major lobbying war is under way.


The issue is whether the legislation should provide legal immunity to telephone companies that assisted President Bush’s anti-terrorist domestic spying program.

In the first three months of this year, three of the nation’s biggest telecommunications companies have employed 37 lobbying firms to urge lawmakers to include such immunity in any overhaul of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA, PL 95-511).

Supporting their efforts is an assortment of political organizations and advocacy groups that focus on national security issues.

Meanwhile, organizations that advocate for privacy have organized their own lobbying campaign aimed at opposing immunity for the telephone companies.

At stake are potentially billions of dollars stemming from lawsuits against the telecommunications companies that were filed when the existence of Bush’s domestic wiretapping program became known in 2005.

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http://www.cq.com/document/display.do?docid=2886665&sourcetype=6