Democrats Back Away from FISA Vote

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4:38 PM, Oct 17, 2007 • By BRIAN FAUGHNAN

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Congressman Eric Cantor reports on his blog that House Democrats are stalling the FISA debate. According to Cantor, they don't know how to address the vote that House Republicans intend to force on whether or not intelligence agencies should be permitted to pursue Osama bin Laden and other terrorist organizations:

House Democrats are holding the FISA bill off the floor, scrambling to figure out how to respond. Why would they possibly want to avoid a vote that merely says we need to allow our intelligence agencies to keep America safe from terrorism?

Clearly the text of the Republican amendment--reproduced in this earlier post--should cause no concern. Presumably nothing in the Democratic legislation would bar U.S. intelligence agencies from 'conducting surveillance' needed to protect the U.S. from terrorist attack. Nevertheless, House Democratic leaders are currently trying to decide on the 'right' vote before coaching their members to cast it.