Bush: 'No excuse' to let FISA expire

WASHINGTON, Feb. 14 (UPI) -- U.S. President George Bush Thursday increased pressure on the House to pass a Senate bill that regulates how the government monitors suspected terrorists.

"There's no excuse for letting this critical legislation expire," Bush said of a temporary intelligence-gathering measure passed last year and due to expire Saturday.

The Senate Tuesday passed a reauthorization of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which would make changes to wiretapping rules and monitoring of foreign terrorist suspects, and would grant legal immunity to telecommunications companies that provided information to federal investigators without a warrant. The House previously passed a FISA reauthorization bill without the retroactive immunity provision.

Bush said his staff told House leaders he would delay his Friday departure for a planned trip to Africa "if it will help them complete their work on this critical bill."

Bush said the tools and the immunity provisions included in the Senate bill were necessary for intelligence-gathering professionals to learn "what the enemy is saying and thinking and plotting and planning."