Pete Domenici disagrees "wholeheartedly" with an amendment in the FISA bill that would preclude retroactive immunity for telecommunications companies who allowed the U.S. government to use their infrastructure to spy on phone conversations of U.S. citizens. In a conversation with New Mexico radio reporters yesterday, he replied to a question by Elaine Baumgartel of KUNM that he was sure the bill would pass with the retroactive immunity provision intact, because the only reason the companies were involved in the first place was because the United States government asked for their help. There were some who didn’t like the program at all, he said, "but when it finally got out and the American people got involved, Senators and Congressmen came around and said we better keep doing this." He equated the spying with "taking advantage of the excellence we have," and said we needed to "add their power" to "our power"–referring to the cooperation between the phone companies and the government. He lays the current retroactive immunity debate at the feet of trial lawyers who "got to the U.S. house and had a field day." And he said he would support such a surveillance project again if called upon to do so.



The Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development yesterday finalized its Fiscal Year 2009 funding proposal for the Army Corps of Engineers, plus the Departments of Interior and Energy. Chaired by Dem. Senator Bryan Dorgin, the bill increases funding overall by $2.4 billion over Fiscal Year 2008, which is $1.9 billion over the Bush administrations request. The Los Alamos Monitor reports that the bill would "restore" cuts to Los Alamos Lab funding cut in the House bill, specifically for LANL’s Chemistry and Metallurgy Research Replacement facility, plus $145 million for pit manufacturing that was unfunded by the House. The Senate agreed with the House, though on not funding a Reliable Weapons Warhead project, which Pete Domenici said he is prepared to debate on the Senate floor.



An Albuquerque City Hall transportation task force heard from a consultant yesterday that the most feasible part of Central for a street car project would be between Downtown and San Mateo, according to the Albuquerque Journal. City Councilor Ike Benton said the consultant’s report shows the street car would be a good replacement for the current Route 66 bus line and that it would serve the goal of making Central a denser central corridor for the city.