Efforts stalled in the US House of Representatives to pass a bill that would make it illegal to obtain private telephone records surreptitiously, as was done in the HP scandal, a Reuters report said.
The Reuters report said the bickering between Republicans and Democrats erupted late over whether to add provisions to address intelligence gathering methods by government agencies, a lawmaker and congressional aides said.
'An agreement was reached (among Republicans) under which the bill could go forward with some language to deal with intelligence matters,' said Larry Neal, a spokesman for the bill's chief sponsor, Texas Republican Rep. Joe Barton.
Momentum for a vote on the bill had been building since HP admitted its investigators obtained telephone records of board members, employees and journalists without permission in an effort to unmask who was giving out secret information from board meetings, the Reuters report said.
Barton, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said earlier there was a 'good chance' it would get a vote before lawmakers recessed to campaign for the November elections, but acknowledged that was not guaranteed, according to the Reuters report.
The committee in March approved the measure making it illegal to obtain and sell telephone records, the report said.
It also would mandate tougher rules for phone companies that maintain such records and higher fines for carriers that fail to adhere to those standards, the report further said.