Bush opposes temporary extension of spy program

By Jeremy Pelofsky and Richard Cowan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President George W. Bush on Wednesday vowed to veto another temporary extension of a domestic spying law and pressed Congress for a long-term fix to shield phone companies that cooperated with his warrantless eavesdropping program.

But the House of Representatives was prepared to defy Bush and vote itself three more weeks to review a White House-backed bill passed by the Democratic-led Senate on Tuesday that would grant phone companies retroactive immunity for having aided Bush's anti-terrorism effort.

"The time for debate is over," Bush told reporters in the Oval Office. "I will not accept any temporary extension."

Democrats who control House said they needed up to three weeks to review and possibly offer revisions to the Senate's bill, which would put into law the government's expanded powers to track communications between terrorism suspects.

The bill would also shield telecommunication companies from potentially billions of dollars in civil damages.

About 40 civil lawsuits have been filed accusing AT&T Inc., Verizon Communications Inc. and Sprint Nextel Corp. of violating Americans' privacy rights by helping the warrantless domestic spying program that Bush secretly began shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks.

The Senate passed-bill would replace the 6-month-old Protect America Act, set to expire on Saturday, that broadened the ability of U.S. authorities to eavesdrop on enemy targets without a court order. It also provides new protection of civil liberties of Americans swept up in the hunt for terrorists.

Heated debate over the eavesdropping law comes in an election year in which Bush and his fellow Republicans want to use issues such as domestic spying to paint the Democrats as weak on counterterrorism and national security.