CQ TODAY PRINT EDITION
June 2, 2008 – 8:11 p.m.
Lobbyists Duel Over Rewrite of Surveillance Law
By Tim Starks, CQ Staff
As lawmakers try to negotiate an overhaul of surveillance legislation, a major lobbying war is under way.
The issue is whether the legislation should provide legal immunity to telephone companies that assisted President Bush’s anti-terrorist domestic spying program.
In the first three months of this year, three of the nation’s biggest telecommunications companies have employed 37 lobbying firms to urge lawmakers to include such immunity in any overhaul of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA, PL 95-511).
Supporting their efforts is an assortment of political organizations and advocacy groups that focus on national security issues.
Meanwhile, organizations that advocate for privacy have organized their own lobbying campaign aimed at opposing immunity for the telephone companies.
At stake are potentially billions of dollars stemming from lawsuits against the telecommunications companies that were filed when the existence of Bush’s domestic wiretapping program became known in 2005.
But the dispute also has taken on a more lofty, ideological flavor.
Civil libertarians say that the administration’s warrantless wiretapping program was illegal, and that the telecommunications companies should have stood up for privacy rights and refused to cooperate. They also want the legislation to place more explicit restrictions on the administration’s ability to conduct warrantless surveillance.
National security advocates argue that the companies were acting in good faith to help the president protect the nation, and they should not be subject to harassment by lawsuits that, in the end, are likely to be rejected by the courts. They also want the president to have the flexibility to monitor terrorist activity with minimal court intervention.
Inching Closer
The FISA law, enacted in 1978, set up a secret court to approve warrants for electronic surveillance in the United States for counterintelligence and counterterrorism purposes.
The Bush administration has pushed to expand its authority under the FISA law and has asserted it has the right to conduct wiretapping under some circumstances even without the approval of the secret FISA court, prompting a long-running battle with Democrats.
Although lawmakers and aides in both parties say the two sides in negotiations to overhaul the FISA law have been inching closer to a deal, the impact of the rival lobbying campaigns is unclear.
Lobbyists Duel Over Rewrite of Surveillance Law
One congressional aide said it has been “marginal.” Another aide said at best, the lobbyists have complicated negotiations at times.
“One new proposal comes out, then all the attackers get on it and tell their people about it, then you have to tweak it,” the aide said.
Caroline Fredrickson, the director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s Washington legislative office and an outspoken opponent of immunity language, said the lobbying battle has largely produced a “kind of a stasis.”
The telecommunications companies have sought to keep their lobbying efforts out of the public view. Spokespeople for the three largest — AT&T, Verizon and Sprint Nextel — declined requests for interviews.
But lobbying registrations for the first quarter of 2008 suggest a broad effort on their behalf.
Twenty-one organizations reported lobbying for AT&T on FISA, although many of them reported working on behalf of the company on other issues, too. Likewise, 17 reported lobbying on FISA for Verizon, and two more reported the same for Sprint Nextel.
Three firms reported lobbying on the issue for both AT&T and Verizon. That does not count the lobbying of each company’s in-house government affairs team, all three of which reported lobbying on FISA.
Altogether, the companies and some of their allies in the business world spent more than $14 million lobbying in just the first three months of this year. The Chamber of Commerce’s Institute for Legal Reform and the National Cable and Telecommunications Association are among those that have lobbied in favor of retroactive legal immunity from the lawsuits.
Lobbying reports in many cases state that expenditures were for more than one issue, so it is impossible to determine exactly how much lobbying cash was directed specially at the FISA legislation.
However, in early 2008, when the battle over FISA was particularly intense, the pace of lobbying by the two biggest companies affected by the issue — Verizon and AT&T — increased dramatically compared with last year.
Telecoms Retain Heavyweights
The telecoms’ lobbying effort includes some major star power. Charlie Black, the top adviser to presumed GOP presidential candidate John McCain of Arizona, lobbied on behalf of the telephone companies until McCain forced him to work full time for the campaign.
The list also includes former aides to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid , D-Nev., and House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer , D-Md., both of whom have played key roles in steering FISA legislation, as well as former aides with ties to House “Blue Dogs,” a group of conservative Democrats who have been an important bloc of potential swing voters in the debate.
Lobbyists Duel Over Rewrite of Surveillance Law
A number of recently retired lawmakers also are now involved as lobbyists, including Sens. Trent Lott, R-Miss. (House, 1973-88; Senate, 1989-2007) and John B. Breaux, D-La.. (House, 1972-87; Senate, 1987-2005).
Some hawkish political groups have begun ad campaigns that target wavering lawmakers.
For example, Brian Wise, spokesman for a nonprofit called the Defense of Democracies, said the group is behind a multimillion dollar campaign that urges such lawmakers to support the Senate’s version of the FISA rewrite, which includes retroactive immunity for the telecoms.
ACLU, Others Oppose Immunity
On the other side of the issue, groups like the ACLU, the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the Computer & Communications Industry Association have spent about $1.2 million on lobbying during the first quarter of 2008, which includes efforts to remove immunity language from any FISA rewrite.
Fredrickson said the ACLU’s efforts resulted in as many as 200,000 calls to lawmakers since last August, when Congress enacted a short-term law (PL 110-55) that expanded the administration’s surveillance powers.
That law was passed under intense political pressure from the Bush administration, but it expired in February, when House Democrats would not agree to a more lasting White House-favored bill (
The ACLU also spent more than a million dollars on ads in January targeting wavering lawmakers, Fredrickson said.
Meanwhile, a group of progressive bloggers raised about $80,000 through Monday for their own campaign, which has targeted Rep. Christopher Carney , D-Pa., a Blue Dog who supports the Senate bill but has not yet joined Republican efforts to bring it to a floor vote.
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