Lawmakers are hoping for a breakthrough this week on changes to national security legislation that has divided Congress for months: the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.
[ . . . ]
Senior Congressional officials said they hoped to seal an agreement early this week and quickly vote in the House and Senate on legislation[.]
Yes, I’m sure they’d like to rush it through as quickly as possible, what with the bipartisan tradition of selling out citizens’ civil rights for the interests of the telecom companies.  So what’s the big compromise?
After weeks of talks, lawmakers have worked out a deal that would allow federal courts to settle the question of whether the telecommunications companies should be protected because they were assured their participation was legal.
Something tells me that that’ll turn out to be something other than what it appears. Let’s not hurry legislation that’s designed to bury wrongdoing.