Props to Mike Stark for this.
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First time on the Rec List for me, thanks to all! I know it's more topic related than anything I did personally, but thanks nonetheless. I love this place!
On a related note, during my drive home I was listening to Randi Rhodes talk with Jonathan Alter about FISA. He thinks the Democrats should let this bill pass, and should vow to change it immediately in January. Something about how the current situation allows Bush to do the warrantless wiretaps without ever going to court, and at least if this FISA bill passes, the courts will again be involved. Additionally, he said that while he doesn't at all support the FISA bill, Sen. Feingold's fillabuster plan isn't better because it proposes nothing instead of a different bill.
Just a thought, maybe now that they've got a few extra days to figure it out, the 15 Senators with half a brain and heart can draft an alternative. At the very least, they ought to be able to get the immunity to be a separate vote.
UPDATE 3: From Greg Sargent at TPM...
It's possible that this could make life a bit tougher for Senators who support the legislation and wanted to put the vote on it behind them. And it's certainly a setback for the measure's champions in the House, such as Rep. Steny Hoyer, who have been eager to get the cave-in bill signed into law already.
Well said.
According to TheHill, the glacier that is our Senate will not be voting on the FISA Bill until after the 4th of July. For once, slow motion works in our favor...
Objections by Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) will push back an overhaul of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) until after lawmakers return in July, Democratic leaders said Thursday. Feingold is strongly opposed to language that would likely give telephone companies that participated in warrantless surveillance retroactive immunity from lawsuits.
UPDATE 2: Some people are talking about whether to contact the Obama campaign or the Obama Senate office. I've personally done both, but I know that the contact form on the campaign site allows you to give your comment--something like FILLIBUSTER THE FISA BILL-- hit 'Submit Form', then hit the back button and submit it again. I did this about 200 times earlier, and am about to start again. The link to the form is here.
"It doesn't look like it," Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said of taking up the FISA bill this week. "Sen. Feingold wants additional time and would like to postpone it until after the Fourth of July."
Along with some Republican whining about amendments not being accepted on the Housing Bill, Reid's ambitious schedule isn't moving as quickly as he'd planned.