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President Bush says the House of Representatives risks reopening a dangerous gap in intelligence gathering¹ by failing to pass a law expanding warrantless surveillance. Opposition² leaders in the House say the president has all the authority he needs to protect the nation.

布什总统说，众议院议员没能通过延长一项未经授权进行监听的法律可能让情报搜集重新面临危险。众议院民主党领导人说，在保护国家方面，布什总统拥有他保护国家所需要的一切权力。

President Bush wants retroactive immunity³ for telecommunications companies that complied with government requests to monitor telephone and computer traffic between the United States and suspected terrorists abroad without a court warrant.

布什总统希望，为那些“按照政府要求监视美国和国外恐怖分子嫌疑人之间电话和电脑互联网数据传送而没有法庭许可文件”的电信公司授予追溯豁免权。

Many of those firms are now facing civil lawsuits⁴ for their actions following the 2001 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington. Mr. Bush says allowing those lawsuits to proceed would be unfair because those companies were told their assistance was legal and vital to national security.

2001年恐怖分子袭击纽约和华盛顿后，许多这种从事监听行为的公司目前面临民事诉讼。布什总统说，允许进行这些诉讼案件是不公平的，因为这些公司被告之他们的协助是合法的，并且对国家安全非常重要。

"Allowing the lawsuits to proceed could aid our enemies because the litigation process could lead to the disclosure of information about how we conduct surveillance and it would give al-Qaida and others a roadmap as to how to avoid the surveillance," he said. "Allowing these lawsuits to proceed could make it harder to track the terrorists because private companies besieged⁵ by and fearful of lawsuits would be less willing to help us quickly get the information we need."

布什总统说：“允许进行这些诉讼案件可能会帮助我们的敌人，因为诉讼程序可能会暴露我们如何处理有关监听的信息，这会让基地组织和其他组织知道如何避免被监听；允许进行这些诉讼会让追踪恐怖分子变得更加困难，因为被官司缠身和害怕惹上官司的私人公司可能会不太愿意迅速帮助我们获得我们需要的信息。”

Without private sector⁶ cooperation, President Bush says the government cannot protect the country from terrorist attack. He says that protection is not a partisan⁷ issue as Republicans and Democrats⁹ in the Senate approved retroactive immunity. The bill is now stalled in the House.

布什总统说，没有私人公司的合作，政府无法保护美国不受到恐怖分子的袭击。他说，参议院共和与民主两党议员通过的关于追溯豁免权的议案，提供的这种保护不是一个党派性的问题。

"Republicans and Democrats in the House stand ready to pass the Senate bill if House leaders would only stop blocking an up-or-down vote and let the majority in the House prevail," the president said.

布什总统说：“只要众议院领导人能停止阻拦议员们进行直接表决投票，让众议院大多数议员占优势，在众议院的共和党和民主党议员已经做好准备，通过参议院的这项法案。”

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says she is certain that delaying the law does not place the nation at greater risk of terrorist attack.

众议院议长佩洛西说，她确信拖延这项法律不会让国家在遭受恐怖分子袭击方面面临更大的风险。

The Democratic leader in the House says what is at stake is the separation of powers established under the 1978 Foreign Service Intelligence Act, which gave Congress the authority to decide the terms under which intelligence collection can take place.

佩洛西说，利害攸关的是根据1978年外国情报监督法案建立的分权制度，它给予国会权力来决定情报搜集的期限。

"This president is saying it is not about the law and it is not about the courts," Pelosi said. "It's about the president deciding that he has inherent authority to spy on anyone. We do not want any president, Democrat⁸ or Republican, to have that authority. And that is why we are making this fight on protecting the American people and protecting and defending the Constitution of the United States."

佩洛西说：“布什总统说，这同法律无关，也同法庭无关。而是总统有权决定监视任何人。我们不想让任何总统，不管他是民主党人还是共和党人，具有那样的权力，这就是我们进行这次抗争来保护美国人民、保护和捍卫美国宪法的原因。”

President Bush wants to broaden the circumstances under which intelligence agents need not obtain a warrant from a secret court before listening in on communications between the United States and suspected terrorists abroad.

布什总统要求国会明确指出在何种情况下，情报人员可以在不需要得到秘密法庭许可的情况下对美国和外国恐怖分子嫌疑人之间的联络进行监听。

Pelosi says the president already has all the authority he needs under the original FISA law. President Bush says that law is out of date and does not allow intelligence agents to track foreign terrorists abroad quickly and effectively.

佩洛西说，在原来的外国情报监督法案下，布什总统已经拥有他所需要的权力。布什总统说，这项法律已经过时，该法律不能让情报人员快速和有效地追踪外国恐怖分子。