Booman Tribune

Action Alert: House Ready to Fold on FISA AGAIN???

by brendan
Wed Jun 4th, 2008 at 02:26:26 PM EST

Via digby


HOUSE CHAIRMAN OPEN TO REPUBLICAN COMPROMISE ON FISA

The House Intelligence Committee's top Democrat disclosed late Tuesday that he is ready to accept a Republican-brokered deal to rewrite the nation's electronic surveillance laws, signaling that a long-running congressional impasse could soon be coming to an end.

House Intelligence Chairman Silvestre Reyes told CongressDaily that he is "fine" with language offered by Senate Intelligence ranking member Christopher (Kit) Bond and other Republicans to overhaul the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

Notably, the GOP language, which was offered a day before the recent congressional recess, would leave it up to the secret FISA court to grant retroactive legal immunity to telecommunications companies that have helped the Bush administration conduct electronic surveillance on the communications of U.S. citizens without warrants.


Digby adds that this smells like a cover-up, since it's not about money but about discovery.

Silvestre Reyes can be reached at (202) 225-4831.

It's also a good idea to give Pelosi, Hoyer, and the rest of leadership an earful, as well as your own rep.

I will be reminding Mr. reyes about how the netroots took out Al Wynn and what we're doing to Chris Carney.



Display:
good catch brendan.

l've been following the fisa thing for a long while and hadn't seen that one yet. as background, here's some of what l've had waiting in the fisa folder.

from Politico: this latest "compromise" is apparently a product of the teleCONs themselves:

Congressional action heats up on FISA

Telecom companies have presented congressional Democrats with a set of proposals on how to provide immunity to the businesses that participated in a controversial government electronic surveillance program, a House Democratic aide said Wednesday.
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House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoye*r (D-Md.) said Wednesday a FISA deal is "still in flux" but he described the latest developments as "promising" and said he hoped to have a solution soon.
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Meanwhile, *Senate Select Intelligence Committee Chairman John D. Rockefeller IV (D-W.Va.)
has begun circulating a proposal on the FISA bill to all key stakeholders, hoping to break the deadlock, several members and aides also confirmed on Wednesday.

While the specifics of Rockefeller's proposal have not been made public, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Silvestre Reyes (D-Texas) sounded positive when asked about it on Wednesday, which could pave the way for Democrats from the two chambers to reach a deal on the measure.
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Hoyer has been the strongest proponent of a compromise in the Democratic leadership and has worked hard to broker a deal on the issue. He often acts as an intermediary between liberal House Democrats unwilling to grant the telecom companies immunity and conservative Senate Republicans and the White House, both of whom will not accept any FISA bill without immunity.

and from Glenn Greenwald...with special mention of your pal chris carney:

What backroom conniving are Steny Hoyer and the Chris Carney Blue Dogs up to on FISA?

Are House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer and a small handful of "Blue Dog" Democrats working in secret to reverse one of the only worthwhile acts of Congressional Democrats since they were given control of Congress in 2006: namely, the refusal to vest the President with vast new warrantless eavesdropping powers and bequeath lawbreaking telecoms with amnesty? It certainly appears that way.

Numerous reports -- both public and otherwise -- suggest that Hoyer is negotiating with Jay Rockefeller to write a new FISA bill that would be agreeable to the White House and the Senate. Their strategy is to craft a bill that they can pretend is something short of amnesty for telecoms but which, in every meaningful respect, ensures an end to the telecom lawsuits. It goes without saying that no "compromise" will be acceptable to Rockefeller or the White House unless there is a guaranteed end to those lawsuits, i.e., unless the bill grants amnesty to lawbreaking telecoms...

more from tpm: Senate GOPer Hatching Secret White House Wiretapping Compromise...and C&L: Telecom Companies Write Their Own Amnesty Proposals

guess it's time to get back to work on this issue.

lTMF'sA...the revolution will not be televised...Peace

by dada on Wed Jun 4th, 2008 at 04:07:37 PM EST


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