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FISA Update: Retroactive Immunity Vote Likely Tomorrow Morning
The Senate has just renewed debate on the surveillance bill, but it appears that the most anticipated votes will occur at the very earliest tomorrow morning, or as late as Wednesday.
The two sides have yet to hash out the timing, but we hear that the two amendments dealing with retroactive immunity -- that's both the Feingold/Dodd amendment to strip retroactive immunity for the telecoms that cooperated with the administration's warrantless wiretapping program and the Specter/Whitehouse amendment that would substitute the government in lawsuits related to the program -- will be offered at the earliest tomorrow morning. But votes on the measures could come as late as Wednesday.
Once again, we'll keep you updated as some of the other amendments are considered and things develop.
Josh
Zachary
With Rockefeller coming out against the Feingold Amendment it looks to fail at this point. The worse part of the debate was Rockefeller debating the old Feingold Amendment instead of the the one under debate. The White House appears to have done Nelsons prep for him.
February 4, 2008 6:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
Nice how they scheduled on super tuesday! think reid planned it that way, to get lost in the media shuffle? Interesting that the guys becomes a strategic genius when it comes to hiding Republican atrocities.
February 4, 2008 7:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
Rockefeller is a fan of the Telco's..TruthOut had a nice expose' on a group called Third Way last week, a group that is in the pockets of many a Democrat.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/013108J.shtml
February 4, 2008 7:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
Many of us have been writing about The Third Way since Clinton was Pres.. The riff between Centrists and Democrats has been ongoing. Centrists imho are one of the maim reasons Impeachment was taken off the table. Since Hillary is known to have been involved with the third way for yrs, we can not expect justice to come to Bush, Cheney, etc after they leave office. We saw what Bill did with those from Iran-Contra, nothing.
February 4, 2008 7:59 PM | Reply | Permalink
I am horrified that Sen. Rockefeller is pushing this.
It's not over the top to say this sanctions fascism.
Why?
Because if the government can whisper, "Psst: break the law because we say so" to any corporation, and the corporations know they're covered on the back end by Congress, then the lawless, seamless abuse of coordinated government and corporate power will be legally condoned.
If that isn't textbook fascism, what is?
February 5, 2008 12:37 AM | Reply | Permalink
I wish there were less talk about immunity for the telecoms, and more talk about why immunity is an issue in the first place. So many politicians, business leaders, and lobbyists acknowledge that laws have been broken, and yet very little is being done by the way of justice. The White House's contradicting assertions that the warrantless wiretaps are completely legal and that the telecoms should receive immunity for involvement in the wiretaps indicates that the WH is using the telecoms as pawns in this legal battle. Why are the telecoms going along with that? What's in it for them?
February 5, 2008 1:05 AM | Reply | Permalink
I've been following this issue closely and providing resources to make it easy for citizens to take action before it's too late. (tick tock)
Call you representatives tomorrow and make sure they know that you will hold them accountable if they sell you out. You can get more info and tips on taking action here:
http://whatsinthatkoolaid.blogspot.com/search?q=FISA
February 5, 2008 1:05 AM | Reply | Permalink
This was the first issue I've heard about that I found disconcerting enough to call my senators and express my opinion.
Can anyone explain a concise way of matching the bill, and amendment numbers, with my senators voting record? Google took me to 3 different sites to learn about the the bill, amendment specifics, and voting records - then finding information on who voted to extend the current FISA act was another site.
I believe in being an informed voter, and I'd like to be more involved; but I can't spend an hour a day googling for all this info. There's got to be a better way. Please help; thanks in advance!
February 5, 2008 12:32 PM | Reply | Permalink