A high-stakes showdown over the future of U.S. eavesdropping law is taking place behind closed doors on Capitol Hill. With scant time remaining before possible votes in the House and the Senate as early as Wednesday, the Bush administration is lobbying for permanent surveillance ability over the objections of top legislators.. . .
A high-stakes showdown over the future of U.S. eavesdropping law is taking place behind closed doors on Capitol Hill. With scant time remaining before possible votes in the House and the Senate as early as Wednesday, the Bush administration is lobbying for permanent surveillance ability over the objections of top legislators.

The biggest sticking point: an expiration date of December 2003 that the House Judiciary committee unanimously slapped on some of the additional Internet spying and wiretapping sections last week.

An aide to Rep. John Conyers (D-Michigan), the top Democrat on the committee, said Tuesday that the "administration does not want the Judiciary bill to go to the floor for a vote."

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