Bush vs. Congress: Eavesdropping Showdown

President Bush today issued a stark warning to Congress: Renew the so-called "Protect America Act," which allowed the government to eavesdrop on certain phone calls and e-mails without a court order, or aid the terrorists.

(ABCNEWS.com)

"Somewhere in the world, at this very moment, terrorists are planning the next attack on America," the president said in his radio address.

The warning was aimed at House Democrats. They have refused to add to the law legal immunity for companies that help the government eavesdrop without warrants.

"They can help class action trial lawyers sue for billions of dollars -- or they can help our intelligence officials protect millions of lives," Bush said.

The president's statement followed another alarming warning to Congress on Friday by Attorney General Michael Mukasey and Director of National Intelligence Mitch McConnell: "We have lost intelligence information this past week as a direct result of the uncertainty created by Congress' failure to act."

Without legal immunity, the statement said, phone companies were refusing to cooperate with government requests for wiretaps.

In a reversal today, the administration acknowledged that it has since learned that no one is refusing to cooperate.

A new statement by McConnell and Mukasey conceded, "new surveillances ... will resume, at least for now."

Critics said the White House is using alarmist rhetoric to gain an authority it should not have.

"In a democracy, you should be having checks and balances," said James Bamford, a journalist and author of a trilogy of books on the National Security Agency, including "The Puzzle Palace." "There is no checks and balances if you have the agency that is doing the eavesdropping also the agency that's deciding who's going to be eavesdropped on."

As the Bush administration seeks to expand its intelligence powers, it is embattled on another front. For years, President Bush has maintained that the administration has broken no laws while interrogating terrorist suspects, with Bush telling the BBC on Feb. 14, "The United States will act within the law."