Dems supporting retroactive immunity on FISA. Are you shitting me?

The deal, reached Wednesday by the leaders of the Intelligence panel and the Bush administration, would attempt to resolve one of the thorniest issues in the debate over the spying program. Telephone companies would face no penalty as long as they proved to courts that they were participating in the program lawfully. In return, Democrats would ensure that the secret FISA court would review the administration’s procedures for warrantless surveillance.

Republicans have argued that carriers should not be hit with lawsuits because they were carrying through with a national security request authorized by the government.

“Immunity for the telecom companies makes sense because they were just doing what they were asked,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who sits on the Judiciary Committee.

But critics say that if the companies were truly acting within the law and had authorization from the Department of Justice, blanket immunity would not be needed.

More broadly, many Democrats in both chambers have said they will not consider immunity language until they see documents of the government’s surveillance program. The White House finally relinquished on Wednesday some of those papers to the Senate negotiators, Intelligence Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) and Vice Chairman Kit Bond (R-Mo.).

When reports of the deal broke Thursday, liberal Democrats in both chambers promptly excoriated the plan.

Sen. Chris Dodd, the Democrat from Connecticut who is running for president, placed a hold on the bill over his objections to the immunity provision. He said he would prevent the measure from coming to the floor because of what he said was “amnesty” for telecommunications firms.

“I said that I would do everything I could to stop this bill from passing, and I have,” Dodd said in a statement to supporters of his candidacy.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) also condemned the deal, warning that the Intelligence Committee was “about to cave on this.”