Dems buck Bush for a change

What do you know? For once, the Democrats come through for us -- at least temporarily:

The House defied President Bush Wednesday and scheduled three more weeks of work on a controversial foreign surveillance bill in a signal from Democrats in the chamber that they will not bow to White House pressure.

The president has vowed to veto any legislation updating the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act that does not essentially retroactively legalize his warrantless surveillance program and free phone companies from facing lawsuits.

The bill faces stiff opposition from some Democrats in the House, particularly as it offers blanket legal immunity to telecommunications companies for possible violations of US law if they participate in the measures.

By a vote of 206 to 199 votes, the House agreed Wednesday to prolong its debate for three more weeks.

The vote followed Bush's admonishment earlier in the day, demanding that the House pass new rules for monitoring terrorists' communications, saying "terrorists are planning new attacks on our country ... that will make Sept. 11 pale by comparison."

Bush said he would not agree to giving the House more time to debate a measure the Senate passed Tuesday governing the government's ability to work with telecommunications companies to eavesdrop on phone calls and e-mails between suspected terrorists. The bill gives phone companies retroactive protection from lawsuits filed on the basis of cooperation they gave the government without court permission — something Bush insisted was included in the bill.

Bush says he won't stand for this. I wonder what he will do.

Whoops. Looks like I got that wrong. I gather the 21 day extension failed miserably because the blue dogs joined the Bushies. I'm not sure where the information for this article came from or frankly which article is right and which wrong.