Washington: President George W Bush today that the House Democrats version of a terrorist-surveillance bill would undermine US security and that he would veto it. Ratcheting up his rhetoric, Bush said, "The American people understand the stakes in this struggle. They want their children to be safe from terror." The House is expected to vote on the measure later today.

Bush went before cameras on the South Lawn before the vote to encourage Democrats to drop their effort and, instead, support a Senate-passed version. Replying to Bush, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, a Democrat, said, "Once again, the president continues to try to bully the Congress and mislead the American people on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

He refuses to accept that under our system of government, neither the president nor the telecommunications companies gets to decide which laws to follow and which to ignore.

"The president wants Congress to pretend that his administration did not conduct a massive, illegal, domestic warrant less surveillance programme that was one of the most outrageous abuses of executive power in our nation s history. Rather than accuse Congress of playing politics, the president should stop playing politics with our national security," Kennedy aid in a written statement.

Source : PTI