UPDATE: The "debate," which started at 11:30am, IS back up and you can watch it here: http://www.c-span.org/...
If we're going down, I'm going down fighting. This new FISA secret surveillance bill has been haggled behind closed doors (a red flag),l but today the Senate holds final debate on it--a remarkable and appalling turnabout for a once-moribund measure that would have been unthinkable in 2005 when Bush's secret spying program was exposed.
IF ANY OF THE AMENDMENTS PASS, THE BILL MUST RETURN TO THE HOUSE OR BE RECONCILED, RATHER THAN GOING STRAIGHT TO BUSH FOR SIGNING.
This is, frankly, infuriating, especially the part about giving telephone companies retroactive immunity for spying on their customers' e-mails and phone calls without a warrant upon the order of President Bush.
This bill not only provides amnesty to the phone companies, it will effectively immunize the President and expand eavesdropping further than it has already reached. The President broke the law. And now private companies can break the law if the President orders them to do so. That's the precedent we're setting. If the President orders you to do something, you must do it, even if it's illegal.
Kids, cover your ears, because this goes against everything we've taught you. Checks and balances. A democracy, not a dictatorship.
And for
Sen. John Rockefeller (D-W.VA)
Sen. Kit Bond (R-Mo)
Rep. Roy Blunt (R-MO)
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD)
--who revived this heinous and wholly unnecessary bill--and the rest of the Democrats we elected on a reform platform who are going to vote in favor of it, your actions will not be forgotten and there will be a price to pay at the voting booths. To quote Congressman Hoyer,
Nothing's done until everything's done.
Shame on you. And fool me twice (or is it three times now?), shame on us.
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We've moved on to FISA Liveblog 2. We'll see you there!