Saintless

Apparently, Harry Reid either grew some balls, or he’s bluffing for some strange reason. But, he seems to be standing up to Bush on FISA.

Harry Reid took a tougher stance then we’ve seen on the FISA battle on the hill today during the State of the Union preview speech at the National Press Club. He called out President Bush over his trying to force the bill to pass and pushing immunity for the telecoms. Reid wants there to be a debate on all the amendments. He’s still playing it close to the vest on immunity, but probably playing it smart at this point. It still comes down to Monday.

Ohh, I guess it’s a Maybe FISA Monday?

Dear United States Senate,

Please pass a bill that gives me immunity from breaking the law. Now — and this is awkward — I can’t tell you which law I broke or when I first broke it, or the specifics of how I came to break that law. I can’t tell you what the results of my breaking of the law have been, and I cannot tell you how long I have been breaking the law. I can, however, assure you that I broke whichever law I broke for a very good reason, which is that President George W. Bush told me to break it.

Read the rest of Hunter’s letter.

I just got this email from the ACLU. Join me in telling Harry Reid to do the right thing.

The Senate will soon vote on a bill to regulate the electronic eavesdropping on Americans. What we don’t know is whether the Senate will be asked to take up a bill that was written closely with the Bush administration, or a more reasonable bill.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has a choice to make. We need to tell him to make the right choice.

President Bush wants Congress to bury the truth by stopping pending lawsuits against phone companies that illegally handed over the phone calls and emails of Americans. Stopping lawsuits that could uncover the truth about illegal spying lets him off the hook. And it gives no incentives for companies to follow the law in the future. Tell Senator Reid to bring up reasonable bill that does not let lawbreakers off the hook, a bill that brings spying in line with the Constitution.

Tell Senator Reid to bring up a reasonable bill that does not let lawbreakers off the hook, and does not let the government seize your phone calls and emails without a warrant.

Senator Reid needs to hear from every American who wants him to stand up for our privacy and not let phone companies off the hook. You can take action by signing a petition to Senator Reid now.

http://action.aclu.org/reidpetition

October 5, 2007
Dear Ms. Fowler,

Thank you for sharing your concerns regarding the temporary reauthorization of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (FISA). I appreciate your interest in the issues facing our country and state, and I am glad for the opportunity to respond to your inquiry.

In the aftermath of the 2001 terrorist attacks, Congress specifically proposed changing the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 in order to make it easier to obtain warrants to conduct wiretapping and surveillance. There is no question that if conversations are taking place between terrorists, we want to know about the content of those phone calls in order to prevent future terrorist attacks. Unfortunately, the Bush Administration opposed those changes at the time, which was a mistake. The proper course of action is to ensure that Congress establishes good laws that safeguard American lives and civil liberties.

Congress recently adopted legislation that temporarily extends updated FISA legislation for six months. The legislation permits the U.S. Attorney General and the Director of National Intelligence to authorize the collection of foreign intelligence about individuals reasonably believed to be outside the United States. Although this legislation does not require that the foreign intelligence court established under FISA authorize warrants, it does require the Justice Department to share information regarding its methods with the FISA court for the court’s review. Finally, the legislation also requires semi-annual reports be made to the appropriate Congressional committees regarding intelligence gathering operations conducted under the authority of this legislation. I voted for this legislation, which passed the U.S. House by a vote of 227-183, and was signed into law by the President in August 2007.

However, I believe that Congress mistakenly delayed the process of formally reviewing FISA. Had Congress held more oversight hearings and done more in terms of exploring the weaknesses and strengths of the 2001 legislation, I believe that we would have enacted a more sensible long-term law, instead of this patchwork approach. Fortunately, a more deliberative process is currently underway, and it is my hope that a reasonable FISA reauthorization bill will be enacted sometime this year.

Again, thank you for sharing your concerns with me. If you have any additional questions, please feel free to contact my office.

Sincerely,

JIM MATHESON
Member of Congress