By Tim Starks, CQ Staff

The Senate on Thursday will renew efforts to move legislation that would overhaul the ground rules for electronic surveillance, amid numerous political and procedural challenges.

In floor remarks Wednesday evening, lawmakers began to debate the measure (S 2248). But late Wednesday night, Majority Leader Harry Reid , D-Nev., and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell , R-Ky., still had not agreed on floor procedures for consideration of the bill, which faces a filibuster threat from Christopher J. Dodd , D-Conn., who opposes an immunity provision for telecommunications providers, and from other critics of the measure.

Both factors contributed to Reid’s decision to pull the bill off the floor just before the holiday recess in December.

Some familiar political pressures are mounting, too, as the clock runs out on a temporary extension (PL 110-55) of the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA, PL 95-511). The extension expires Feb. 1.

In a speech Wednesday, Vice President Dick Cheney called on Congress to give the executive branch the expanded spying authority he said it needs to defend the nation against terrorists. The administration pressed a similar argument in August, persuading lawmakers to enact a temporary law authorizing expanded spying powers.

With little chance of Congress reaching agreement on a FISA overhaul by Feb. 1, Democrats in both chambers are urging a one-month extension of the temporary law. Republicans have resisted until now, but they have not ruled out an extension entirely.

Reid said the Senate would work through the weekend if necessary to complete action on a full rewrite of the law.

Immunity Fight Continues

As he did at the end of the first session, Reid called up the version that the Senate Intelligence Committee approved, 13-2, on Oct. 18. It would authorize warrantless surveillance of foreign targets even if they are communicating with someone in the United States but would give the secret FISA court authority to approve several aspects of how such surveillance is ­conducted.

Crucially, the bill also would grant retroactive legal immunity to telecommunications companies that have been sued for their alleged role in the National Security Agency’s warrantless wiretapping program between the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and August 2007, when the latest, temporary version of the law was enacted. The White House has repeatedly called for such immunity.

The Senate Judiciary Committee approved its own version of the bill without retroactive immunity for telecommunications companies by a 10-9 party-line vote Nov. 15, a decision it ratified by voice vote the following day after a procedural question was raised.

Reid plans to again allow the Judiciary panel’s bill to be offered on the floor as a substitute for the Intelligence panel’s version. The Senate is expected to vote Thursday on a motion to table that substitute.

Dodd, who is opposed to retroactive immunity, threatened to use every procedural delay available to him if the immunity is not stripped.

Reid said Jan. 22 that anyone opposed to the bill should be prepared to offer motions to table during the debate. “If someone wants to filibuster this bill, they will do it in the openness of the Senate,” he said.

Even if the bill overcomes its considerable hurdles in the Senate, a deal with the House on FISA legislation would be nearly impossible before the Feb. 1 expiration of the temporary law. The House passed a FISA overhaul bill (HR 3773) in November that lacks immunity for the telecommunications providers, drawing a White House veto threat.

The Bush administration has resisted a one-month extension, stressing instead the need to get a long-term rewrite in place.

On Jan. 22, McConnell objected to a one-month extension. But his spokesman Don Stewart said “it’s premature” to discuss an extension before a longer-term bill is considered on the floor.

House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer , D-Md., noting that the House would not have enough time to reach a deal with the Senate next week on longer-term legislation, pressed House Minority Whip Roy Blunt , R-Mo., to get on board with a one-month extension. Blunt was noncommittal but said the intelligence community needed to have at least the spying authority it has now, without interruption.

Security and Civil Liberties

It is unclear whether the Senate Intelligence panel’s bill has the 60 votes it would need to overcome a filibuster, but it appears to be the version that has the best chance of passage. Most Republicans are likely to vote for the legislation, which was written in close consultation with the White House, but broad Democratic support is less ­certain.

Former White House political adviser Karl Rove last week injected a dose of presidential politics into the already sensitive debate, declaring at the Republican National Committee’s winter meeting that Republicans should watch Democratic candidates Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York and Barack Obama of Illinois to see whether they support expanded White House authority to spy on terrorists.

It is not clear whether either Democrat would be in the chamber for votes on the issue.

According to an aide, Obama “supports restoring oversight and accountability to the FISA program without providing retroactive immunity to companies that cooperated with the administration’s warrantless wiretapping program.” The aide did not say whether Obama would be present for floor votes.

A Clinton spokesman did not answer requests for comment.

Rove pressed attacks on Democrats over FISA during the 2006 congressional campaign, but unlike earlier GOP efforts to portray Democrats as weak on national security policy, the FISA attacks did not gain much traction.

“Americans believe you should have to have a warrant for wiretapping of Americans,” said Caroline Fredrickson, director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s Washington legislative office, citing a recent ACLU poll. “And they do not support immunity for the telecommunications companies.”

The ACLU and a broad coalition of other groups wrote to Reid this week seeking additional court oversight for spying on conversations that involve U.S. citizens. The groups also urged the Senate to reject retroactive immunity for the telecommunications companies.