Glenn Greenwald
Friday October 19, 2007 09:18 EST
Harry Reid works to ensure telecom amnesty, warrantless surveillance
http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2007/10/19/reid/index.html I wrote about many of yesterday's developments concerning telecom amnesty and warrantless surveillance in this morning's post, but I want separately to highlight one critical fact. Citing various media reports,
Jane Hamsher last night noted that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid -- in violation of all Senate customs and rules -- apparently intends, in essence, simply to ignore the "hold" placed on the FISA bill by Chris Dodd and bring the bill to the floor for a vote (and certain passage). I was somewhat skeptical of that interpretation. The one "principle" which all Senators share is the sacred holiness of their customs and institutional prerogatives.
As Jane notes, Reid has never dishonored a "hold" before from his own caucus, and virtually never dishonors "holds" even when placed by the most far-right Republicans Senators. It seemed inconceivable that he would simply refuse to recognize a "hold" by one of the Senate's most senior members on a bill of this importance, and the media accounts seemed vague on that score. As a result, I emailed Reid's office to ask if they actually intended to override and ignore Dodd's "hold" and this is the patronizing (though crystal clear) dismissal I received back as a "response" from Reid's spokesman, Jim Manley:
Reid will work with Dodd and other Senators to correct the deep flaws in the Protect America Act.Clearly, Reid has nothing but contempt for Dodd's principled stand, which was generated by (and in response to) the actions of tens of thousands of Americans concerned about our constitutional liberties and the rule of law. Reid is dismissively brushing that all to the side -- as usual -- to ensure the safe and smooth passage of a Draconian bill jointly demanded by the Bush administration, the telecom industry, and their lobbyists. There is a reason that the Democratic Congress has been as accommodating to the Bush agenda, if not more so, than even the GOP Congress led by Bill Frist and Denny Hastert. It is because that is what their leadership, repeatedly, chooses to do. Dodd needs to demonstrate that yesterday was not a one-time event by demanding that his "hold" be honored, and the other Democratic candidates, as well as others in the Senate who claim to want to stop this bill, ought to do more than issue empty, right-worded statements and stand with Dodd to block this bill by any means available.
* * * * *
In comments, Jim White provides the telephone number for Reid's office to enable those who are inclined to call and share with them your views of Reid's behavior: (202) 224-3542.
UPDATE: The massive amounts of telecom cash that have suddenly flowed to Jay Rockefeller this year is discussed in the post below, but as Brendan Skwire notes, AT&T is also in the top 20 contributors to Harry Reid.
Then again, AT&T is the second largest contributor overall to officials in Congress, having poured into the Beltway a total of $38 million in campaign contributions for the election cycles for which these records are available. Verizon is in 33rd place with over $15 million; BellSouth in 39th place with with over $14 million; Time Warner in 28th place with $17 million; and MCI in 83rd place with $8 million. The Communications Workers of America, which lobbies for all sorts of pro-telecom legislation, is in 13th place with close to $25 million.
That's $118 million of telecom money poured into the coffers of members of Congress, and the real total is much higher since this is only from the top 100. And now Congress, on a more or less bipartisan basis, is passing a law declaring that this industry shall be completely immune from any consequences even if they are found to have broken multiple federal laws in allowing illegal spying on all of their customers. I don't want to insinuate that complete travesties like telecom amnesty happen exclusively or even primarily because of campaign contributions and the influence of lobbyists (the fees for whom are not counted in these totals and undoubtedly vastly exceed the totals of mere contributions). Contributions and the like are obviously significant factors, but the real problem here is much deeper, more problematic and more fundamental -- it goes to the decayed and rotted roots of our political culture. Atrios identifies the real crux of it here.
http://atrios.blogspot.com/2007_10_14_archive.html#4662258171579564121------------------------------------------------------------------------
ACLU Blog
Thursday, October 18, 2007
FISA Train Speeds Off the Tracks
http://blog.aclu.org/index.php?/archives/313-FISA-Train-Speeds-Off-the-Tracks.htmlYesterday the FISA train came off the rails in a big way — oddly enough, right as the House was taking up railroad safety. After beginning a debate in the morning, then breaking for a short recess, the Republicans offered a particularly nasty motion to recommit (or MTR, which sends the bill back to committee for further discussion) that, through its specific wording, would have killed the Democrats' RESTORE bill right then and there.
Rather than risk it, the Dems took their bill and went home.It looks like Democratic leadership is getting squeezed from the left and the right. On the left, members are hesitant to give the administration warrantless wiretapping of Americans. Hopefully they will finally consider Congressman Rush Holt's (D-RI) simple, one-paragraph fix that will that will put the RESTORE Act back in line with the Fourth Amendment and make sure Americans get individualized warrants when they are tapped on US soil — no excuses, and no semantics about who's really the target (as if that really matters when the government is listening to your phone calls).
On the right, Motions to Recommit are the minority's right — a last ditch amendment offered on the floor right before the final vote. As currently worded, the MTR on the FISA would send the bill back to committee to consider language basically saying that nothing in the bill can prevent the government for spying in the name of terrorism.
The silly thing is that before the Dems took the majority, MTRs were no big deal, and were voted down by the Republicans 99 percent of the time. They continue to plague this Dem Congress, which just can't seem to keep its most conservative members in check.There are pretty solid rumors that telecom immunity is already in the Senate bill. And, frankly, if the language is anything like the past attempts we’ve seen, it’s a little too broad for our taste.
Instead of singling out the telecoms, it allows immunity to be granted to anyone alleged to have cooperated in the warrantless wiretapping program. Doesn’t that include Mike McConnell? Alberto Gonzales? Vice President Cheney? President Bush? The Senate needs to make sure that what they allow to be in the bill doesn’t have unintended consequences. When it comes to giving out get-out-of-jail-free cards, shouldn’t we make the process a little more stringent than effectively flyering Pennsylvania Avenue?Quick update — As of 3 PM today, Senator Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.) has put a hold on the Senate bill. Of course we’ll be keeping a close watch on this. We’ll be asking for your help, too, so watch your inboxes.
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