House agrees to rare secret session on spy bill

By Thomas Ferraro and Tabassum Zakaria

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The House of Representatives abruptly postponed a vote on a spy bill on Thursday after Democrats agreed to a Republican request to hold a rare secret session to discuss classified security matters.

The vote was reset for Friday.

The bill would revamp a 1978 surveillance law and reject President George W. Bush's demand that phone companies that participated in his warrantless domestic spy program begun after the September 11 attacks be immunized from lawsuits.

House Republican Whip Roy Blunt said he wants to privately inform colleagues how the Democratic measure could disrupt anti-terrorism efforts.

Blunt said several lawmakers with high-security clearance already had access to the information, but wanted to make sure all were aware of it.

"There are a significant number of elements of how the (1978) Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act works and ... specific examples of how their proposed changes would prevent it from working that I think can only be disclosed in a secret session," Blunt said.

Several Democrats voiced skepticism, with some suggesting Republicans were merely trying to delay action on the bill that Bush has threatened to veto.

But Democrats ultimately agreed for the House to hold its first secret session since 1983 on Thursday night. The session was set to last an hour and begin after authorities cleared and secured the chamber.