RSSHouse passes revised FISA reform bill minus telco immunity
By Scott M. Fulton, III | Published March 14, 2008, 4:24 PM
Despite whatever took place behind closed doors in an unusual secret session of the US House yesterday, in open session today, the House passed its completely new version of the FISA Amendments bill this afternoon, by a vote of 213-197.
Speaking on behalf of the bill just prior to its passage, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D - Calif.) took issue with President Bush's comments on the White House South Lawn yesterday, stating the Democrats' new version of the bill would, by eliminating legal protections for telecom companies, endanger the ongoing fight against terrorism.
"The President has said that our legislation will not make America safe," the Speaker said. "The President is wrong and I think he knows it. He knows that our legislation contains within it the principles that were suggested by the Director of National Intelligence, Mr. McConnell, early on, as to what is needed to protect our people in terms of intelligence."
Later, the Speaker suggested that it may have been an indication of the administration's "incompetence" that it is trying now to attach immunity to possible actions by telcos cooperating with government surveillance operations, when if the administration had followed existing statutes at the time those operations commenced, she argued, they may already have been immune from prosecution.
Also speaking out in support of the revised legislation was Rep. Tim Walz (D - Minn.), who said on the House floor this afternoon, "No matter how many attack ads the telecom companies take out against me, I will stand firm against giving a free pass to companies that participated in the President's illegal surveillance program. Today we passed a FISA modernization bill that will give our intelligence agencies the tools they need to protect America while still protecting our civil liberties. I am eager to see a good FISA modernization bill become law."
Leading the opposition to the new bill was House Minority Leader John Boehner (R - Ohio), who issued a statement today alleging the new bill was merely a stopgap measure to stall Congress from having to actually pass legislation the President will sign, until at least sometime well after the upcoming spring break holiday.
"This flawed legislation has no chance of becoming law, and the Majority knows it," stated Rep. Boehner. "Passing this bill simply gives the Majority's leaders another excuse to wait even longer to modernize a FISA law that has not been fundamentally reformed in three decades. Congress is now heading into yet another lengthy recess without sending President Bush the bipartisan Senate-passed FISA bill that overwhelmingly cleared that chamber. That means it will be at least another three weeks before our nation's intelligence officials have all the tools they need to protect the American people and our troops serving overseas. The fact that Congress is going on Spring Break -- at a time when al Qaeda and other terrorist enemies continue plotting against us -- is both irresponsible and dangerous."
I agree. Bush has done more to harm our country's finances, reputation, and soldiers than anyone in history. He is a rogue dictator, not a patriot. His ego is writing checks that the public is having to pay for. They admit to having overstepped the legal bounds and bypassing the FISA court on numerous occassions. They ignore the law whenever they wish. This is un-American and against the Constitution. It is time toget back to the middle of the road. We are already the most hated nation in the world. Because of NAFTA, CAFTA, and etc we now have to face a EU that is becoming stronger by the day and our mnoney and goods are devalued hurting us all. All these reckless actions have crippled this nation. The only way we can regain our place in the world community is to stand up and do the right thing. The way to clean up the crooked and renegade politics is to start at the top and make them follow the laws and force the c***roaches into the light.
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|Bush has done more to harm our country's finances, reputation, and soldiers than anyone in history. He is a rogue dictator, not a patriot. His ego is writing checks that the public is having to pay for.
This is usually the answer that I get when I ask the question, "Where are you getting this information?". I also hear the same old babbling rhetoric of how stupid I am and how 'everyone knows he's a dictator' crap.
They ignore the law whenever they wish. This is un-American and against the Constitution.
How pathetically obvious that ignoring the law is unconstitutional. Another commonality between those who seem to crucify Bush for somehow being responsible for the problems in the world today is that they talk more about how Bush is evil than they do about what he has actually done that makes him such.
It's so easy to blame him for the problems, since "everyone else" in your circle does, but what did he (or his administration)specifically do? Yeah, he is the guy who got us into Iraq. No question. But can you actually link him to those things in which you accuse him? Can anyone here actually show me where he actually ruined our reputation, finances, and soldiers as you suggest?
I have yet to understand that these things are anything but better since he has been in office--but then again I look at other countries, not our media, when dealing with his reputation. I look at the long run, not the immediate 3-year future, when dealing with our financial status. And I look at the majority of our soldiers, not the 3% that some outlets report on exclusively, who love this country more than any news organization could ever capture on camera.
And where did you get the idea that we are the most hated nation on earth? Seriously, look beyond your current news source and try some others for a while. You'll thank me some day for it.
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|This is what happens when one gets all of their "facts" from MSNBC...
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|Enabled and funded by Congress, Bush has done more damage to our Country than all our real and imagined enemies. In exchange for unchallenged and unlimited ear mark funding for pet projects, Congress still refuses to confront Bush and stalls for time with meaningless bills like this one. Our own government has betrayed us.
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|Oh Christ.. STFU with that crap...
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|Used to be they were the same thing, fighting for Freedom and fighting for our Government.
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|and having our government fight for us in return, not fight us in return.
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|This is why Congress has just a 21% approval rating--they're not actually getting anything done. Just passing bills that everyone knows Bush will veto.
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