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• Saturday, August 4, 2007 05:38 PM

  The bill

  Thanks, Mona, for the link to Anonymous Liberal:

  What's important to understand is that this bill would allow much broader surveillance than what the Bush administration has so far acknowledged doing. Until the administration actually discloses what activities it has engaged in and promises to abide by FISA, I just don't see how any self-respecting member of Congress could vote to give the administration additional powers.

  The administration is now 18 days late in providing the Senate Judiciary Committee with documents it's subpoenaed and it's been over 2 months since the House Intelligence Committee requested documents related to the administration's illegal warrantless wiretapping program. I don't think it'll be to go forward with these investigations if this bill passes the House (imo, it should not have been considered before these investigations were completed).

  And thanks, lupurcus, for the CDT link:

  The new authority in the Senate bill would expire in 180 days. Therefore, Congress will be required to re-visit the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act in February of next year. The Administration is expected at that time to push for a more comprehensive re-write of the intelligence surveillance laws.

  That's 9 months before the elections. How in the world will the Democrats withstand the pressure of the executive-authority-hungry administration then, if they can't all hang together now?

  The House just started debating the bill. C-Span (where it says Campaign 2008) http://www.cspan.org/watch/index.asp?Cat=TV&Code=CS2

  —EJ Read EJ's other letters
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