Anti-climactic Senate FISA, immunity vote expected today

The U.S. Senate likely will vote on the new Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, including the compromise granting immunity to telcos for past involvement in the federal government's wiretapping program, sometime today, according to several published reports. Months of intense debate are expected to end in a whimper as the Senate probably will approve the legislation by a wide margin. Though legislators and non-legislators alike will continue to argue about the course of events for years to come, the biggest remaining controversy related to telco immunity might be presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama's decision to support the telco immunity provision after initially saying he would not support legislation with immunity included. How damaging will his support for the new legislation prove to be when Mr. and Mrs. America (and even us regular folks) head out to vote in November?

For more:
- see this Associated Press story

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