US Senate passes wiretapping bill

After more than a year of heated political wrangling, the Senate handed the White House a major victory on Tuesday by voting to broaden the Government8217;s spy powers and to give legal protection to phone companies that cooperated in President Bush8217;s warrantless eavesdropping programme.

The Senate rejected a series of amendments that would have restricted the government8217;s surveillance powers and eliminated immunity for the phone carriers, and it voted in convincing fashion 8212; 69-29 8212; to end debate and bring the issue to a final vote. That vote was expected later Tuesday afternoon, with the result all but assured. On the vote to end debate, 28 Democrats and Senator Bernie Sanders, independent of Vermont, opposed the measure. Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton and Lindsey Graham did not vote.

The House has already rejected the idea of immunity for the phone companies, and Democratic leaders reacted angrily to the Senate vote.

But congressional officials said it appeared that the House would ultimately be forced to accept some sort of legal protection for the phone carriers in negotiations between the two chambers this week.

The Senate vote amounted to a proxy on the President8217;s warrantless wiretapping programme, which allowed the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on Americans8217; international communications without a court warrant if they were suspected of having terrorist ties.