Lawmakers call for wiretap review
COMBINED NEWS SERVICES
December 19, 2005
Democratic and Republican lawmakers called yesterday for a review of President George W. Bush's decision to authorize eavesdropping on American citizens and foreign nationals in the United States after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Sen. Carl Levin, a Michigan Democrat, said the Bush administration appears to have ignored provisions in the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act that require judicial approval before the National Security Agency can monitor telephone calls and e-mail within the United States.
"I don't want to prejudge whether the president broke the law," Levin said yesterday on NBC's "Meet the Press." "We need an explanation and we need it fast."
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Republican Sen. Arlen Specter, on yesterday's CNN's "Late Edition," said the Judiciary Committee he leads will hold hearings on the issue. "There are limits to what the president can do under the Constitution," Specter, of Pennsylvania, said.
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