From The Pgh Post Gazette
By Pamela Hess

The Senate granted at least a temporary victory to the White House on Thursday, turning back an attempt to increase court oversight of the government’s surveillance of phone calls and e-mails that involve people inside the United States.

The 60-36 vote to reject increased powers for the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance court came as senators worked against a Feb. 1 deadline to extend the law governing how U.S. intelligence agencies carry out electronic eavesdropping.

Further action on the legislation was delayed until Monday, pushing Congress closer to the deadline, and leaving unresolved the most contentious issue in the bill: whether to grant legal immunity to telecommunications companies that helped the government conduct warrantless surveillance.

The Bush administration is insisting that any new law protect from potentially crippling civil lawsuits those telecom companies that helped the government eavesdrop on Americans after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, R-Nev., blamed Republicans for the delay, saying they were trying to block a series of amendments majority Democrats sought to offer.

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