by James Oliphant
It's okay, kids. You can go to South Padre Island and Panama City Beach. Go wild.
John Boehner and Mitch McConnell say it's safe.
"Al Qaeda is not going on Spring Break next week," the Congressional Republican leaders said Friday.
All right, that's not exactly what they meant, but you can't leave such jarring juxtaposition lying around unused.
Instead, they were taking House Democrats to task over -- you guessed it -- their lack of action on proposed amendments to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act that would permanently expand the government's power to spy on foreign agents here and abroad. A temporary upgrade known as the Protect America Act expired last month after House leaders decided it would be better to let it lapse than hurriedly sign off on a bill that had passed the Senate immediately before the deadline.
Since then, Ds and Rs have been in FISA food-fight, with the Republicans saying the Ds have gone squishy on national security and the Dems accusing the GOP and the White House of fear-mongering. Democrats say the country's intelligence-gathering capacity right now remains as effective as ever.
In a statement released today, Boehner and McConnell said:
The only thing now keeping intelligence officials from having every tool they need to monitor and disrupt terrorists is the Democratic House leadership, which has repeatedly delayed action and is now poised to go on a second vacation without revising the law. It is not too late for the House leaders to change direction and fix this crucial law.
The sticking point remains whether to provide immunity for telecom companies that cooperated with the National Security Agency's now-defunct wireless wiretapping program. Some of the elements of that program have been incorporated in the Senate bill, which does provides immunity to the telecoms. Senate Democrats such as Jay Rockefeller say that corporations won't cooperate with the government in the future if there is a risk they could be sued for their involvement.
Congressional Democratic leaders have been working on a piece of compromise legislation which would grant some level of immunity. The question is whether the bill will get finished before Congress breaks for a two-week recess at the end of next week for -- Spring Break!
If you're wondering, Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer will be buying the jello shots at Senor Frog's.
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Comments
Congress needs to wait until Jan 09, that's when things can and will start to get done:
* remove 80% of the troops from Iraq and bring 50% of those home, the rest redeploy to Afghanistan to finish the job there
* pass a telecom bill without amnesty
* appoint an AG that cares about the rule of law
* install 2 or 3 SCOTUS justices that will uphold the rule of law
* pass meaningful CAFE standards, repeal NCLB, repeal the "Clean Skies" BS...
Just hold off on any legislative item that Bush would like to sign, every appointee. He can't make an under-the-law signing statement if there's nothing to sign.
W. needs to be put into the penalty box from here on out, so he can do no more damage on the ice.
Posted by: John E | March 7, 2008 12:56 PM
Good for the Dems in the House! If Bush broke the law and then promised the Telecoms that they could break it with him without any consequences, they should all be sued.
Also note, the Telecoms (normally heavy GOP donors) have not ponied up any cash to the Republican during this election. Hmmm...I wonder why? Is it because the Republicans lied to them when they said that spying on Americans without a warrant was legal?
Posted by: Adam SC | March 7, 2008 1:50 PM
Wake me up when the House Democrats stop grandstanding and fold like their counterparts in the Senate did, and like they do on every other issue after talking tough.
Posted by: Herbie H. | March 7, 2008 1:53 PM
I don't even want to read this item because the dems' FISA mess makes me so sick. There are enough democrats who want to vote for it that it'll surely pass if it ever made it to the floor but Pelosi is playing politics with our nation's security.
Posted by: Jeff | March 7, 2008 4:46 PM
I heard on the news today that they say there is an increase in chatter from terrorists. that tells me 2 things.
1) It must be election time
or
2) There will be a push for FISA
Posted by: bill "hussein" r. | March 7, 2008 5:22 PM
"BUSH, CHENEY, FIELDING, GONZALES, ADDINGTING SPEAKS"
IT'S 3AM AND AT&T / VERIZON WIRELESS, TIME WARNER, SOUTHWEST BELL, ANYONE THAT WAS A PART OF CIRCUMVENTATION OF THE LAW, I MEAN ANYONE LEAVE THE PHONE ALONE.
DON'T TOUCH IT. DON'T TOUCH IT. WE DON'T CARE IF IT JACK, OR BOB NEY, DUKE CUNNINGHAM, DO NOT ANSWER THE PHONE.
NO IMMUNITY NO PROTECTION FROM LIABILITY, THEY ARE NOT ON THE TEAM ANYMORE, DO NOT ANSWER THE PHONE.
I DON'T CARE IF YOU GET BOEHNER OR BLUNT AT 3AM DO NOT ANSWER THE PHONE.
I DON'T CARE IF VICKI ISEMAN CALLS FOR JOHN AT 3AM IN THE MORNING, WE HAVE NO IMMUNITY FROM PROSECUTION IN ILLEGALLY WIRETAPPING AMERICAN CITIZENS FOR THE TELECOM SHE WORKED FOR. SO DO NOT ANSWER THE PHONE DURING
SPRING BREAK!
BIG POPPY'S ORDERS!
Posted by: Roger Morris | March 7, 2008 5:50 PM
SO if F.I.S.A. was so critically important to our safety as a nation...
Why wouldn't Bush sign the temporary extension at LEAST to protect us for a short time more?
(while he made a case to make it permanent during the extension)
Either
A- Because it isn't that critical and ONLY serves the interests of this administration and corporations... not the people's.
B- Bush WANTS to allow terrorist acts to be planned and executed (via e-mail of course)
C- It's bum-rush the American people's civil liberties politics as usual from the Neo-CONs. (see A)
Posted by: Ian C | March 9, 2008 1:54 AM