Congress to telecommunications companies: See you in court.

The House gave President Bush a nice little weekend present Friday afternoon when it approved a version of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) that denies telecom companies retroactive immunity for their participation in the government's warrantless surveillance program.

Members narrowly approved H.R. 3773 with a vote of 213 to 197 after several hours of contentious debate.

After the September 11 attacks, the government stepped up its eavesdropping on suspected terrorists, and enlisted the help of telecom companies that provided the National Security Agency access to their networks without court approval.

The Senate passed a FISA bill recently that would grant telecommunications companies retroactive immunity for participating in the program, but the House version would requires those companies to face the music in the courtroom.

For weeks President Bush has pressured the House to adopt the Senate version of the bill, and has pledged to veto any bill that does not include retroactive immunity. A temporary FISA extension expired on February 16.

"We have a well-structured bill in front of us," Rep. Rush Holt, D-N.J., said of the House version during a floor debate. "It gives the telecom companies the opportunity to defends themselves in court" rather than granting immunity.

Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, called for a vote on the Senate version of the bill because the House version will "handcuff our intelligence officials," he said. "It will open up a wide avenue for trial lawyers to hold communication companies at bay and threaten their very willingness to help us in this very serious business of tracking down those who would do us harm."

Rep. Silvestre Reyes of Texas, the House Intelligence Committee chairman, accused Boehner of wanting to "put the engine in neutral and just vote on what the Senate has sent over. In other words, we want to rush what the administration wants."

"That's not going to happen," Reyes pledged.

Congress will recess after today for two weeks and return to Capitol Hill on March 31 to battle it out over which version of the bill actually makes it to President Bush's desk.

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