Monday, March 06, 2006

Senate Intelligence Committee to Consider Whether It Will Investigate Domestic Spying Program

ABC News

March 6, 2006 — - Tuesday will be a day of reckoning for the politics of domestic spying.

The Senate Intelligence Committee is slated to vote, in a closed session, on whether it will investigate the president's NSA warrantless domestic wiretapping program. At this point, it could go either way.

With eight Republicans and seven Democrats on the committee, it'll take the defection of one Republican to make an investigation happen. Three Republicans on the committee have expressed doubts about the program -- Ohio's Mike DeWine, Nebraska's Chuck Hagel, and Olympia Snowe of Maine.

Any investigation would be largely closed from public view, but the simple fact of it would be a blow to the White House, which has given ground on its assertions of executive power in recent weeks.

After delaying a Feb. 16 vote on whether to investigate, Republican leaders in the Senate have been working to convince moderates on the committee that a vote for an investigation is unnecessary.

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