Warrantless Spying Showdown Postponed to Monday -- UPDATED
"The move comes after weeks of speculation over whether Reid would prefer the Senate Intelligence committee's version - a bill favored by the Administration -- or the Senate Judiciary's version. Senator Christopher Dodd (D-Connecticut has a hold on the Intel bill, since it includes amnesty for telecoms being sued for helping with the government's secret, warrantless wiretapping program, but Reid decided to override that hold. Civil liberties groups prefer the version from the Judiciary Committee, led by Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont), since it requires an investigation into the warrantless spying program, is mum on immunity and more tightly limits warrantless wiretapping inside American soil.Dodd has also promised to filibuster any bill granting retroactive immunity to telecoms, a move that fellow Senators/Democratic presidential candidates Barack Obama (Illinois) and Hillary Clinton (New York) said they would support.
Opponents of the Intel bill contend that setting that bill as the default and the Jud
