Report: FISA Bill Does Not Contain Telco Immunity

This is very good news, if true. Here is the report:

Here's a bit more detail on what happened on the Judiciary Committee today. Sources say Senator Russ Feingold offered an amendment that would have stripped telecom immunity from the bill, but it was defeated. Then Senator Arlen Specter, the ranking GOPer on the committee, offered a "compromise" amendment saying that in these lawsuits the Federal government, and not the telecoms, would be the defendants.

But because of a procedural difficulty Specter's amendment wasn't voted on -- and Senator Patrick Leahy, the chair of the committee, essentially went around Specter's amendment and moved to have a vote to report the bill out of committee without any telecom immunity in it. That passed along strictly party lines. And that's where we are.

The interesting thing is that this is a fight that Bush can't win, if the Dems show some backbone.

If nothing passes, we are back to the old FISA bill. If he vetos over this, he has to explain why.