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Last time we checked in, back in March, the House was debating the Protect America Act, which would grant retroactive immunity to telecoms which helped the government spy on suspected terrorists. Yesterday, the House came to an agreement which it calls bipartisan. Included in the bill is a provision that would protect telecoms from prosecution for their role in wiretapping measures. This gets them off the hook for the more than 40 lawsuits they could have faced, which alleged that they violated privacy rights.

Once the bill passes the House today and the Senate next week, these pending lawsuits will become trash. Well, that is, as long as they can prove that they were given the OK by the White House.

The bill also contained over $200 billion in additional spending measures, both for programs at home, including unemployment relief, and abroad, for the Iraqi war.

So it looks like the telecoms will continue operations as usual.

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