Bush: House chose 'politics' over security

WASHINGTON, Feb. 16 (UPI) -- U.S. President George W. Bush Saturday accused House Democrats of choosing "politics over protecting the country" in its handling of surveillance legislation.

Bush used his weekly radio address to repeat a charge he made Friday following a meeting with congressional Republican leaders.

"The Senate passed a good bill that would have given our intelligence professionals the tools they need to keep us safe," Bush said Saturday. "But leaders in the House of Representatives blocked a House vote on the Senate bill, and then left on a 10-day recess."

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., said Friday they would not be bullied into quick consideration of the Senate measure that would reauthorize the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act before an interim intelligence-gathering measure expires Saturday.

They said intelligence-gathering would not end because the 30-year-old FISA regulations remain in effect and provisions in the temporary Protect America Act extend for one year.

Bush denied that Saturday. He said the U.S. Attorney General and the Director of National Intelligence "will be stripped of their power to authorize new surveillance against terrorist threats abroad" beginning midnight Saturday night.