The U.S. Senate has delayed a vote on a controversial surveillance bill that would allow a U.S. National Security Agency spying program to continue and would likely result in the dismissal of dozens of lawsuits against telecom carriers that participated in the program.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat, announced Friday that the Senate would take up the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) Amendments Act when it returns from a week-long recess for the Independence Day holiday. The Senate will debate the bill July 8, with three amendments allowed, he said.

Several Democrats will likely push for an amendment that would take out the section of the bill that would likely lead to the dismissal of more than 40 lawsuits against telecom carriers that allegedly participated in the NSA program. The original version of the surveillance program began shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the U.S., and it was used to spy on phone calls and electronic communication of people outside the U.S. with suspected ties to terrorist organizations.

Civil liberties organizations have objected to the NSA program because, for more than four years, it was done in secret and allowed surveillance of U.S. residents who were talking to the overseas suspects without court oversight such as warrants. The program was illegal under the U.S. Constitution's Fourth Amendment prohibiting unreasonable search and seizure, civil liberties groups have said.

The FISA Amendments Act is part of a compromise between some congressional Democrats and U.S. President George Bush's administration. It would allow the NSA program to go forward with some court oversight, and it would send the dozens of outstanding lawsuits against telecom carriers for their alleged participation to a district court, which will review whether they should be dismissed.

The lawsuits would be thrown out if telecom companies can show that the U.S. government issued them orders for the surveillance that were presented by government officials as legal. Seventeen U.S. telecom carriers participated in the program, Senator Christopher Dodd, a Connecticut Democrat, said earlier this week.

The U.S. House of Representatives voted 293 to 129 to approve the FISA Amendments Act on June 20, but many Democrats there opposed the bill.

The IDG News Service is a Network World affiliate.