We can't let them get away with continuing a program that
violates federal law (FISA) and is unconstitutional.
More...
Panel blocks Dems' attempts to rein in Bush wiretapping program
WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Republicans blocked Democratic attempts to rein in President Bush's domestic wiretapping program Wednesday, endorsing a White House-supported bill that would give the controversial surveillance legal status.
Under pressure from the Bush administration for quick action, the full Senate could take up the measure next week.
Progress on a companion bill in the House was not as tidy, in part because GOP leaders and Bush are intensely negotiating restrictions it proposes on the surveillance program. Even as the Senate Judiciary Committee advanced Chairman Arlen Specter's bill to the Senate floor on a party line vote, the same panel in the House abruptly canceled its scheduled markup.
The developments come amid a sustained White House campaign to persuade Congress to give the administration broad authority to monitor, interrogate and prosecute terrorism suspects. The administration is up against an election season in which Republicans are struggling to keep its majority with approval from a war-weary electorate.
Specter, R-Pa., has acknowledged that GOP lawmakers fighting for re-election may not embrace a measure bearing Bush's stamp of approval.
House GOP Leaders Fight Wiretapping Limits
House leaders moved yesterday to temper many of the controls that abill headed toward rapid passage would have imposed on the Bush administration's program for wiretapping terrorism suspects without court approval.
The bill, set for Judiciary Committee consideration today, would have forced the administration to seek a warrant for surveillance within 60 days and bolstered consultations with Congress on the program. But last-minute changes pushed by senior Republicans may allow warrantless surveillance to largely continue without those controls. Instead, House Republican leaders brought their bill in line with legislation agreed to by the White House and the Senate, which would allow but not require the administration to submit the program to a secret court for a constitutional review.
UPDATE 2: Behind-the-scenes negotiations were intense Wednesday. As the Senate bill moved toward committee approval, the House Judiciary Committee abruptly canceled its markup that had been scheduled to happen simultaneously. The reason for the cancellation wasn't immediately clear.
Update 3: Bush plans a personal and rare visit to the Hill on Thursday to confer with House Republicans, who are feeling political pressure to distance themselves from an unpopular president and an unpopular war in Iraq. [thanks to Just an Observer, esteemed commenter at Unclaimed Territory]
Contact Your Members of Congress
UPDATE 1: Recommended reading - Glenn Greenwald just posted on this. Here's an excerpt (my emphasis):
From what I can discern, the Senate Judiciary Committee essentially passed on responsibility to the full Senate to save the administration by enacting the Specter FISA bill, while simultaneously blocking Democratic efforts on the Committee to dilute the most offensive parts of the Specter bill. Democrats have been reluctant to pay much attention to the Specter bill, but the way in which it (a) abolishes all limits on the President's eavesdropping powers; (b) embraces the Bush administration's most radical executive power theories; and (c) virutally destroys the ability to obtain judicial review for the President's lawebreaking, renders it a bill that is at least as pernicious as anything else that is pending. It deserves full-scale attention and opposition.