Lawmakers and the Bush Administration continued to fight this week over the extent of powers granted by a bill that would update the United States' government's ability to eavesdrop on foreign terrorists.

Named in typical Washingtonian style, the Responsible Electronic Surveillance That is Overseen, Reviewed, and Effective (RESTORE) Act of 2007 would allow law enforcement and intelligence officials to wiretap phone or Internet communications between non-U.S. citizens routed through the United States. The act would require that agents get a warrant if any participants in the communication are U.S. citizens, but allow agents to get a one-year authorization to surveil a specific group. The bill, introduced into the U.S. House of Representatives, would not give telecommunications companies immunity from lawsuits if they have cooperated with wiretapping efforts by the Bush Administration.

While the American Civil Liberties Union took issue with the bill because it allowed Americans to be spied upon in certain circumstances, the Center for Democracy and Technology found (PDF) the legislation to be a reasonable compromise.

"The RESTORE Act may not be perfect, and many would want to see individualized warrants for interception of calls to and from Americans, but at this time the RESTORE Act is the best chance the House has to improve protection of civil liberties," the CDT stated in a summary of the bill. "If the bill fails because it does not have enough votes, a substantially worse bill could pass."

The CDT's concerns appear to be coming true. A vote on the legislation was postponed on Wednesday after a Republican representative threatened to amend the bill with politically-charged language. A second piece of legislation -- that would have allowed warrantless wiretapping of communications between a terrorist suspect and an American citizen and given telecos immunity from lawsuits -- passed the Senate Intelligence Committee on Thursday by a vote 13-2. Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT), a candidate for the U.S. presidency, promised to put a hold on the Senate bill, effectively blocking it from a vote by the full Senate.

The RESTORE Act is designed to replace stopgap legislation, which gave the Bush Administration broad spying powers and is due to expire in February 2008. A number of lawsuits have been filed against telecommunications companies following the revelation that they cooperated with the National Security Agency to wiretap communications without warrants, in violation of the Federal Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA.

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