Top Democrat Says FISA Deal Near

The Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Silvestre Reyes (D-TX), said on Sunday that a deal was in the works to pass a controversial extension of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, as early as this week. Speaking on CNN's "Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer," Reyes said that the House is moving closer to approving a bipartisan Senate passed extension of the law, which contains immunity for telecommunications companies that have previously assisted the government in listening in on potential terrorists' communications.

Democrat leaders in the House had been holding up the bill over the immunity issue, refusing to allow the Senate legislation to come up for a vote despite majority support for it in the chamber. Before the President's Day recess, minority Republicans and a group of moderate Democrats joined forces to prevent the House from taking up a temporary extension of the law. The Democratic leadership chose at the time to allow the law to expire on February 16, rather than bring the Senate bill up for a vote. Republicans in Congress and Administration officials have been pressuring Democrats ever since to restore the law and the Administration's ability to eavesdrop on suspected terrorists.

Renewal of FISA is a major policy goal for the Bush Administration. White House Spokesman Gordon Johndroe expressed hope that the law will get acted upon quickly. "We certainly hope the House Democratic leaders will bring the measure to the floor as soon as possible," he said. Last week, the Administration sent Attorney General Michael Mukasey, perhaps it's most trusted figure, out to publicly pressure Democrats into getting the law passed. Republicans in Congress are cautiously anticipating a political victory later this week if the emerging deal holds.

The Administration's eavesdropping program is broadly unpopular among the Democratic Party's base. But Democratic leaders, in seeking a deal to pass the legislation, are making a nod toward their moderate members, many of them freshmen, who hold seats in traditionally more conservative districts. Democrats won the House in 2006 on the strength of those freshmen members' victories, and they don't want to place them in a difficult position back home in this election year. Still, among the core of the party's base activists, passing FISA with immunity and the eavesdropping program authorization will be seen as a capitulation to the Bush Administration by the Democratic leadership; and Republicans are sure to seize on that unrest in their bid to take back the House this November.