Well, we know who wears the pants in Congress. (It's clearly the House, not the Senate.)
Nancy Pelosi has stated that the House will go into recess without another vote on FISA, which means the Protect America Act will expire.
Let's review what happened, shall we?

• The House passed the RESTORE Act in November, an update of FISA that did not include retroactive immunity.
• The Senate was forced to stop debate on FISA after Dodd's filibuster, leaving the issue open until the new year.
• The Senate took up FISA again, and on Tuesday passed a version of the bill with retroactive immunity and everything else Bush and his fearmongers wanted.
• The President tried to bully the House into passing the Senate version of the FISA bill.
• After an extension failed in the House yesterday, and debate went nowhere today, Nancy Pelosi refused to back down and put away FISA for another day. The Protect America Act will expire.

This is victory, folks. Perhaps, after the Protect America Act expires, legislators will realize their world does not end without the protection of this "crucial" law. Perhaps they'll realize the people really don't want to give amnesty to telecom companies that spied on them. Perhaps they'll realize the expanded powers given to Bush by the Protect America Act don't actually prevent terrorist attacks, and that Bush is full of (*)(*)(*)(*) when he says we face terrorism that would "pale by comparison" to 9/11 if we don't pass this god awful bill.
From the ACLU:

It is heartening that the House is standing up to the bullying from the president. The House is saying it will not give in to the administration’s lies and fear mongering. This administration has abused its power time and time again, and finally the House is standing up and saying no. The House is also sticking with the decision it made back in November not to give the phone companies and the Internet providers amnesty for illegal actions over the past six years when they provided Americans’ private calls and emails to the government without warrants.

Public pressure no doubt played a role in this turn of events. Without the outcry, it is doubtful Pelosi would have found the spine to stand up for her branch of government. But she did, and she proved she's more of a leader than Reid.
My hat is off to Nancy Pelosi today, and to all of you out there who helped make this happen. The war isn't over, but we've won another battle.
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