Did The GOP Save John Doe?

According to this article in the Washington Post, the GOP may have been able to undo the damage the Dems tried to inflict on innocent people when they sought to remove protections for citizens reporting suspicious activities:

WASHINGTON -- Congressional negotiators reached tentative agreement Tuesday on steps to strengthen air and sea defenses against terrorists in legislation aimed at fulfilling recommendations made three years ago by the 9/11 Commission.

The bill outlines plans to inspect all cargo on passenger planes within three years and screen, within five years, all U.S.-bound cargo ships for nuclear weapons before they leave foreign ports.

It also realigns the formulas for distributing federal security funds so that states and cities most at risk of terrorist attack receive a larger share....

The last obstacle was cleared when negotiators crafted language to satisfy a Republican demand giving immunity from lawsuits to people who report suspicious behavior. The issue grew out of an incident last fall where six Muslim scholars were removed from a flight in Minneapolis after other passengers said they were acting suspiciously. The imams have since filed a lawsuit, saying their civil rights were violated.

As Captain Ed points out, nobody has seen the final conference report to ensure that this language is actually in there. But after the hubbub in the blogosphere and occasionally in the press over the Dem attempt to remove these protections in the name of saving us from the ravages of racial profiling, it's likely the Dems allowed the language in order to avoid being further painted as soft on terrorism.

UPDATE: According to this Michelle Malkin post, the John Doe language is in the conference report and will be in the new bill.