The U.S. Senate rejected a bill Thursday that would have amended the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Bill to increase oversight by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of government eavesdropping of Americans. The Senate Judiciary Committee previously approved the legislation to update the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

The current law, the Protect America Act, which temporarily allows government eavesdropping inside the U.S. without prior court approval when one person to the communication is believed to be located outside the U.S., expires on February 1, 2008. The Bush Administration supports legislation to extend the government’s surveillance authority and grant legal immunity to telecommunication companies who participated in the terrorist surveillance program.

Source: http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2008/01/senate-rejects-surveillance-legislation.php