The Week in (P)review

Senators finished work on their version of an economic stimulus package. Senate Democrats had wanted to add to the House-passed package an array of benefits including money for the extension of unemployment benefits, an extension of expiring tax credits for alternative energy investment, and provisions aimed at the ailing housing industry. This Democratic package fell just one vote short of the necessary 60 for cloture. Both sides agreed the following day to a package adding checks for seniors and military disabled vets to the House package. The Senate version also closed a loophole that might have allowed illegal immigrants to get checks. The dollar amount of checks holds true to the orignal House proposal: $600 for a taxpayer with $3,000 of earned income in 2007. $1200 for couples. $300 for each kid.

Senators also worked on revising FISA, the foreign intelligence surveillance act. The pending legislation fixes provisions of FISA pertaining to electronic surveillance and wiretapping. Amendments from Ben Cardin (MD) and Russell Feingold (WI) sought to reign in the grants of power made to the executive branch in the proposed legislation. These amendments came nowhere near the 60 votes they needed for passage. Three FISA amendments garnered zero Republican votes.

Next week begins with more work on FISA. The portions of FISA that the pending legislation revises are set to expire on Saturday Feb. 16. Reid already extended the current legislation once. He has filed legislation to extend the provisions once again for 15 days. This could be necessary in the event that work on FISA this week runs into a filibuster. It is also possible that the extension will be necessary due to a delay of the legislation in conference. The House has already passed its version of the legislation. In contrast to the pending Senate bill, the House did not include retroactive immunity for telecom companies who helped the gov't carry out the warrantless surveillance between 2001-2006.

Roll call votes on FISA amendments begin Tuesday. Among the amendments is the Dodd/Feingold attempt to rip retroactive immunity out of the Senate bill. Dodd has vowed to filibuster the bill if it contains retroactive immunity. At this stage in the game, his filibuster would probably have to take the form of a talk-o-rama. Two weeks ago he said he as willing to "talk awhile about the rule of law." We'll see.

Other amendments for Tuesday vote include a Specter/Whitehouse amendment leaving retroactive immunity in the bill but substituting the federal gov't for the telecom companies as defendant in the some-odd 40 pending lawsuits. Specter emphasized the need to figure out if the President's program really did violate the Constitution. Or more specifically to test the President's claim that Article II of the Constitution gave him the power to ignore the statutes passed by Congress. By agreement, an amendment must get 60 votes to pass.