The Daily Background

Phone company executives won’t be grilled by a Senate panel anytime soon about their roles in the Bush administration’s eavesdropping program.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter, R-Pa., said Tuesday he will hold off subpoenaing the telecommunications chiefs while he works with the White House on his legislation that would ask a secretive federal court to review the constitutionality of Bush’s surveillance operations.

Democrats accused Specter of abdicating Congress’ oversight responsibilities.

“Why don’t we just recess for the rest of the year?” the committee’s top Democrat, Sen. Pat Leahy of Vermont, asked sarcastically. “Vice President Cheney will just tell the nation what laws we’ll have.”

I really don’t hate Senator Specter (actually I have respect for him), but this is really stupid. The White House must have thrown him a bone though (to stop him from subpoenaing the telco higher-ups), because last time I checked, Full AP article.

Filed under: NSA Wiretaps, Z-TDB Blog