House Republican plans to tack telecom immunity onto war funding bill

Amid maneuvering by House Democrats to add domestic spending to a planned war appropriations bill, Republican House Rep. Jerry Lewis (CA-41) plans to do them one better:

Lewis, ranking member of the House Appropriations Committee, seeks to tack on retroactive immunity for telecommunications companies who spied on Americans for President Bush's warrantless wiretapping program, The Hill reports.

"Its time for the Democratic leaders to put our national security ahead of the desires of trial lawyers and pass the FISA bill that was passed by the Senate," Lewis said. "This Congress should make this legislation one of its top priorities until the intelligence gap is closed."