Source:
BloombergThe lapse of a law that allows American spy agencies to intercept the U.S. phone calls and e- mails of suspected foreign terrorists doesn't hinder intelligence gathering or endanger national security, Representative John Conyers, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said.
Conyers, a Michigan Democrat, said President George W. Bush and Republicans in Congress defeated the extension of a temporary surveillance law because they wanted the House of Representatives to approve a Senate bill that would shield phone companies from lawsuits accusing them of invading customers' privacy after they helped the government eavesdrop on calls.
``The expiration of the temporary August legislation does not endanger our national security,'' Conyers said in the weekly Democratic radio address. ``Well-established emergency provisions of the current surveillance laws are more than adequate to address any emergent threats.''
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``The President and House Republicans simply can't have it both ways,'' Conyers said. ``They cannot argue simultaneously that the temporary August law was essential to national security, and then turn around and engineer the defeat of an extension of it.''
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Congressman John Conyers Delivers the Democratic Radio Address
http://www.dnc.org/a/2008/02/congressman_joh_5.php