From Different Parties, FL's Senators Both Support Warrantless Wiretapping

Contempt for civil liberties crosses party lines

Debts, deficits and doom were recurring themes during the New Year's Day negotiations to avoid the "fiscal cliff," but lost among the headlines was the extension of sweeping and expansive surveillance powers granted to the nation's intelligence agencies during the Bush years.

Along with extending warrantless wiretapping for people suspected of terrorism, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act gives immunity to telecommunications companies that have disclosed private phone records to the National Security Agency and the FBI.

Both of Florida's politicians in the upper chamber, U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio and U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, voted Dec. 28 to extend the bill. President Obama signed it two days later.