Bush Allies in Congress Block Bill That Would Require Intelligence Disclosures

By MARK MAZZETTI
Published: April 17, 2007

WASHINGTON, April 16 — The Bush administration’s allies in Congress on Monday blocked a bill that would require the White House to disclose the locations of secret prisons run by the Central Intelligence Agency and to reveal the amount spent annually by American intelligence agencies.

The vote on the intelligence bill was a blow to Senate Democrats, newly in control of Congress, who had hoped that they would be able to extract more details from the White House about some of the most widely debated intelligence programs begun after the Sept. 11 attacks.

Opponents of the legislation, led by Senator Jim DeMint, a South Carolina Republican, won enough support on Monday to prevent the bill from going to the Senate floor for a final vote. But Congressional officials said that negotiations over the measure would continue Tuesday, and Democrats said they were still hopeful the bill could eventually pass.

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