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Senators Lobby Reid to Keep Telecom Immunity out of Surveillance Bill
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has a choice. Both the Senate intelligence committee and Senate Judiciary Committee produced versions of the surveillance bills last month. But there's a crucial difference between the two. The intelligence committee's bill contains retroactive immunity for telecommunications companies that collaborated with the administration's warrantless wiretapping program. The judiciary committee's does not.
Today, fourteen senators (thirteen Dems and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT)) wrote Reid to urge him to have the judiciary committee's version be the base bill for the Senate debate. "As this is such a controversial issue, we feel it would be appropriate to require the proponents of immunity to make their case on the floor," they write. Presidential candidates Sens. Joe Biden (D-DE), Hillary Clinton (D-NY), Chris Dodd (D-CT), and Barack Obama (D-IL) signed on. The letter is below.
In an op-ed in The Los Angeles Times this morning, Attorney General Michael Mukasey came out in favor of the Senate intelligence committee's bill.
Dear Majority Leader Reid:
We understand that the Senate will shortly be considering amendments to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. As you know, the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and the Senate Judiciary Committee have reported very different versions of the FISA Amendments Act, S. 2248, and it is up to you, as Majority Leader, to decide how the Senate considers this legislation.
We urge you to make the version of S. 2248 reported by the Senate Judiciary Committee the base bill to be considered by the full Senate. While the structure of Title I of both bills is the same, and both make improvements over the Protect America Act, the reasonable changes to Title I made in the Judiciary Committee ensure that the FISA Court will be able to conduct much-needed oversight of the implementation of these broad new surveillance authorities, and help to better protect the rights of innocent Americans. While we appreciate the hard work that the Intelligence Committee has done on this legislation, the process by which the Judiciary Committee considered, drafted, amended and reported out its bill was an open one, allowing outside experts and the public at large the opportunity to review and comment. With regard to legislation so directly connected to the constitutional rights of Americans, the results of this open process should be accorded great weight, especially in light of the Judiciary Committee’s unique role and expertise in protecting those rights.
We also believe that the Judiciary Committee bill is preferable because it does not provide immunity for telecom companies that allegedly cooperated with the administration’s warrantless wiretapping program. As this is such a controversial issue, we feel it would be appropriate to require the proponents of immunity to make their case on the floor.
Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,
Russell D. Feingold (D-WI)
Christopher J. Dodd (D-CT)
Barack Obama (D-IL)
Bernard Sanders (I-VT)
Robert Menendez (D-NJ)
Joseph R. Biden, Jr. (D-DE)
Sherrod Brown (D-OH)
Tom Harkin (D-IA)
Benjamin L. Cardin (D-MD)
Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY)
Daniel K. Akaka (D-HI)
Jim Webb (D-VA)
Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA)
Barbara Boxer (D-CA)
If Reid pushes forward on immunity - his message is that the combined Democratic Senators running for President are all so weak and so easily steamrolled that no one, himself included, should listen to them.
And if they let him make that statement, then none of them really have earned the right to run for office.
December 12, 2007 4:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
Wow, I'm honestly pleasantly surprised to see Menendez's name up there. With the importance of telecom companies in this state I really expected him to be a coward on this one.
Good for him!
December 12, 2007 4:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
Mukaseys OpEd was totally dishonest and should remove any doubt as to if he plans to continue the Gonzales tradition of politicizing the DOJ. I wrote a diary about the OpEd this am over at the DailyKos if anyone is interested. http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/12/12/52852/410/61/420995
December 12, 2007 4:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
How can he call himself a Democratic leader if he would be on the opposite side of the leading Democratic presidential candidates?
It's weird that this is even an issue for Reid!
December 12, 2007 4:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
I wonder which side old weezy the all talk no bite spineles whimp will come down
December 12, 2007 4:52 PM | Reply | Permalink
This is flabergasting. Why do the Democrats feel the need to revise the surveillance bill at this time? Bush isn't going compromise on anything no matter what. Are they still concerned that Bush will portray them as soft on terrorism? George Bush of the 30% approval rating and 65% disapproval rating? Are they incapable of understanding that Bush (and the Republican candidates) will accuse them of being soft on terrorism anyway? Are they still that frightened of Bush? Are they just plain stupid? Let the bill die! They can revise it when there is a new president.
December 12, 2007 5:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
I just sent an email to Sen. Reid expressing my opposition to retroactive telecom immunity and urging him to use the Judiciary Committee version of the bill. I would encourage others to do likewise.
http://reid.senate.gov/contact/email_form.cfm
December 12, 2007 5:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
Puzzling, but not surprising, that the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee was not willing to take a public position in support of his committee's bill and the equal application of the law to everyone.
December 12, 2007 6:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
Who'd have thought that Boxer would turn out to be the CA senator with a spine a few years ago (I live in CA)? Dianne Feinstein has completely hashed any credibility she once had. Maybe she'll retire. I can't see her getting defeated, unfortunately.
December 12, 2007 7:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
Kind of surprising that Whitehouse didn't sign on, given his work recently on Executive Orders relating to surveillance.
December 12, 2007 7:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
Tel:
Difi ain't running for re-election... why should she? She and hubby, UC Regent Blum have all their little duckies all in a row.
Reid better do the right thing.
December 12, 2007 8:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
lets see how much spine this sob really has. Why this has become a partisan issue amazes me....wait, no it doesn't I guess.
December 13, 2007 1:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
So, not counting Democratic members of the SSCI, who we can assume support their committee's bill (apart from Feingold), here are all the Democratic Senators who could have signed on to this letter and didn't:
Baucus, Max - (D - MT)
Bingaman, Jeff - (D - NM)
Byrd, Robert - (D - WV)
Cantwell, Maria - (D - WA)
Carper, Thomas - (D - DE)
Casey, Robert P., Jr. - (D - PA)
Conrad, Kent - (D - ND)
Dorgan, Byron - (D - ND)
Durbin, Richard - (D - IL)
Harkin, Tom - (D - IA)
Inouye, Daniel - (D - HI)
Johnson, Tim - (D - SD)
Kerry, John - (D - MA)
Kohl, Herb - (D - WI)
Klobuchar, Amy - (D - MN)
Landrieu, Mary - (D - LA)
Lautenberg, Frank - (D – NJ)
Leahy, Patrick - (D - VT)
Levin, Carl - (D - MI)
Lincoln, Blanche - (D - AR)
McCaskill, Claire - (D - MO)
Murray, Patty - (D - WA)
Nelson, Ben - (D - NE)
Pryor, Mark - (D - AR)
Reed, Jack - (D - RI)
Salazar, Ken - (D - CO)
Schumer, Charles - (D - NY)
Stabenow, Debbie - (D - MI)
Tester, Jon - (D - MT)
Shame on every one, espcially the usually reliable good guys.
December 13, 2007 3:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
Word from the ACLU is that Reid will advance the FISA bill WITH immunity. That ***sucker should have his leadership position stripped away NOW.
December 13, 2007 11:41 PM | Reply | Permalink
This is typical. They wait until the week before christmas when everyone will be distracted by shopping and running around and craziness and so on and son......Reid is another Morman nutter who is just a lackey for the corporate hacks in this country. He is supporting an illegal act and making it OK to commit a crime if the government tells you that you should. What a coward what a fraud what a putird wimp. I truly cannot abide these people anymore including Hillary Clinton. In a way i am sad that she seems to be collapsing like a house of cards on the other hand I am glad that we will not have to endure another 8 years of this silliness that has been consuming Washington for the last 16 years. It will be refreshing and my true hope is that the ticket will be Edwards Obama. This ticket would be a jugernaut that no matter who the Reubs presented they would be crushed by an Edwards Obama Ticket. If Obama is at the head of the ticket it may be a looser. America is not ready for a Black president no matter what Oprah says.
December 15, 2007 12:35 AM | Reply | Permalink
RE: Rory
Puzzling, but not surprising, that the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee was not willing to take a public position in support of his committee's bill and the equal application of the law to everyone.
PATRICK LEAHY WAS ONE OF THE TWO SENATORS TARGETED WITH ANTHRAX. COULD THIS BE WHY?
December 15, 2007 1:15 AM | Reply | Permalink