Vote on spying bill delayed

WASHINGTON -- As Congress prepared to depart for a weeklong Presidents Day recess, House Democratic leaders defied the White House by postponing a vote on a federal wiretapping bill.

President Bush and Republicans accused Democrats of leaving Americans vulnerable to another terrorist attack by not acting on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act before it expired Saturday.

Democrats countered that surveillance guidelines remain in effect to cover the gap. They charged the GOP was resorting to the politics of fear.

The atmosphere became so poisonous that House Republicans staged a walkout on separate legislation.

With 173 Republicans abstaining, the House voted 223-32 to cite White House Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten and former White House counsel Harriet Miers for contempt for refusing to testify before a House committee investigating the firings of nine U.S. attorneys in 2006.

Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., voted to hold Bolten and Miers in contempt of Congress.

Rep. Dean Heller, R-Nev., did not vote. Rep. Jon Porter, R-Nev., voted present.

EXTENSION DENIED

Before the showdown on Bolten and Miers, the House voted 229-191 to reject a 21-day extension of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

One key dispute was whether telecommunications companies that cooperated with the administration on warrantless wiretapping in the past should be granted retroactive immunity from lawsuits.

Democrats sought the extension to pursue negotiations.

Bush vowed to veto the extension, and insisted that the wiretapping law be made permanent.

Berkley voted for a 21-day extension of the wiretapping rules. Heller and Porter voted against it.

SENATE OKS surveillance law

The House's refusal to pass the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act set up a conflict with the Senate, which voted 68-29 to approve the wiretapping law.

Sweeping domestic spying guidelines would be made permanent under the act, but Congress and a specialized federal court also would gain additional oversight authority.

Democrats split on the bill, with opponents particularly troubled that it grants retroactive immunity to telecommunications companies that have eavesdropped on customers.

Bush and Republican supporters said phone companies should not be penalized for helping to protect the nation from terrorism.

Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., voted to approve the surveillance act. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., voted against approving the surveillance act.

TORTURE BANNED

The Senate voted 51-45 to pass a bill that would outlaw controversial interrogation techniques like waterboarding, which simulates drowning.

However, the Senate probably won't muster enough votes to overcome a threatened veto from the White House, which claims waterboarding is no longer used in the questioning of terrorism suspects.

Advocates of the torture ban said the legislation would establish a uniform standard for interrogating detainees that would comply with the Army Field Manual.

Reid voted to ban controversial interrogation techniques.

Ensign voted against the ban.