The Associated Press

MONTPELIER -- Vermont's lone representative in the U.S. House, Peter Welch, said he will work to defeat the extension of a new federal wiretapping law passed by Congress in July.

Welch, a Democrat, said a number of Democrats have given in to pressure from the White House and supported the bill.

"This really is an abdication of the separation of powers. That is a core principle of our democracy," Welch said. "There's no judicial review under the FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) provision that was passed by Congress. Frankly I think that the courts may well find this unconstitutional because it's depriving the court of its jurisdictional oversight. And that's not an appropriate thing for Congress to do. This was a mistake."

The law, which expires in six months, enables the Bush administration to conduct domestic wiretapping without the review of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court as long as it is approved by the attorney general.

The bill passed the House because 41 Democrats joined almost all the Republicans to form a solid majority. Welch opposed the bill.

Welch said some Democrats voted for the bill because they didn't want to be painted by Republicans as being soft on terrorism.

Welch said he wasn't opposed to the wiretapping provisions, he just wanted the special court to review these requests.

"There are ways in which our national security interests can be protected and that includes wiretapping, it includes inspecting e-mails, it includes searches and those can be authorized in a way where you have some independent judicial review to determine the legitimacy of these efforts," Welch said.