The American Prospect: Wiretapping, Round 2

[marmar]

Wiretapping, Round 2

Today, House Democrats will move a revised wiretapping bill to a full floor vote. Critics charge the bill is another Democratic cave-in, but a closer look shows it to be a substantive improvement over the president's plan.

Brian Beutler | October 17, 2007 | web only



Today, the House of Representatives will hold a vote on the RESTORE Act, an amendment to the amendment to the surveillance law that civil libertarians have been assailing since August, when, in the hours before Summer recess, House Democrats caved to White House demands and handed the president a six month reign to spy on American citizens.

The vote itself is a victory for Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Moments after the Congress passed the August measure enshrined in the so-called Protect America Act -- Pelosi demanded her committee chairmen get to work fixing it.

In a letter to Judiciary Committee Chair John Conyers, D-Mich., and Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Chair Silvestre Reyes, D-Tex., the speaker urged the committees to "send to the House, as soon as possible after Congress reconvenes, legislation which responds comprehensively to the Administration's proposal while addressing the many deficiencies."

But aides doubted they could move any legislation that would survive a Bush veto before February 2008, when the August bill sunsets. At that point, a veto would kick off a vicious fight between the Congress and the White House, with both facing the high stakes of forcing backward progress -- if nothing's passed, the law reverts to the old, antiquated Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, a law that most agreed required at least a narrow update.

The RESTORE Act is, in that sense, a testament to Pelosi's ability to shepherd her committees. More substantively, the bill does most things civil libertarians wanted it to do -- excepting get rid of a provision that may allow the government to spy on numerous Americans with a single warrant. At the same time, it maintains the provisions of the August amendment that modernized the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act by allowing agents to investigate foreign suspects through taps in the Untied States.

Today's bill also requires the White House to release to Congress the details of its so-called Terrorist Surveillance Program -- implemented after the Sept. 11 attacks -- which did an illegal end-run around FISA. And it has won the support of New York Democrat and civil liberties titan Rep. Jerrold Nadler, who called it "not perfect, but ? a good bill."

If Pelosi passes the RESTORE Act, she will have proven her ability to control her whole caucus in the face of White House attacks over national security. But that won't be the end of this fight -- not by a long shot. .......(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=wiretapping_round_2