That law, already extended once, expires on Saturday.
Doubtful they could work out the differences in the bills by then to present a final version to the White House, Democrats in both the Senate and the House have prepared short-term extensions they hope to pass that would keep current law in effect for several more weeks. Representative Lamar Smith, the senior Republican on the House Judiciary Committee, said House Republicans would fight another extension and said Bush would not sign it. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky also opposes an extension.
The White House said Bush would not sign another 15-day extension of the law.
"The intelligence community needs this good, long-term legislation, not a patchwork of extensions," presidential spokeswoman Dana Perino said. "The House is risking national security by delaying action, and the president will not sign another extension."
On the way to passage, the Senate rejected by a vote of 31 to 67 a move to strip away a grant of retroactive legal immunity for the companies. It also rejected two amendments that sought to water down the immunity provision.
One, co-sponsored by Republican Arlen Specter and Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse, would have substituted the government for the telecom companies in lawsuits, allowing the court cases to go forward but shifting the cost and burden of defending the program.
The other, pushed by California Democrat Dianne Feinstein, would have given a secret court that oversees government surveillance inside the US the power to dismiss lawsuits if it found that the companies acted in good faith and on the request of the president or attorney general.
While giving the White House what it wants on immunity, the Senate also expanded the power of the court to oversee government eavesdropping on Americans. The amendment would give the FISA court the authority to monitor whether the government is complying with procedures designed to protect the privacy of Americans whose telephone or computer communications are captured during surveillance of a foreign target.
The bill would also require FISA court orders to eavesdrop on Americans who are overseas. Under current law, the government can wiretap or search the possessions of anyone outside the US -- even a soldier serving overseas -- without court permission if it believes the person may be a foreign agent.
"You don't lose your rights when you leave American soil," Democratic Senator Ron Wyden said in an interview.
Wyden wrote the provision into the bill when it was still being considered by the Senate Intelligence Committee.
"In the digital age, an American's rights shouldn't depend on their physical geography," he said.
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