Pelosi, Reid Call on Bush to Provide Requested Information on Surveillance Activities

[babylonsister]

http://www.speaker.gov/blog/?p=682

Pelosi, Reid Call on Bush to Provide Requested Information on Surveillance Activities
August 16th, 2007 by Office of the Speaker

Washington, D.C.—Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid today sent President Bush the following letter, requesting that the President provide all documents and other information sought by the House and Senate Judiciary and Intelligence Committees in order to conduct oversight of the implementation of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA):

August 16, 2007

The President

The White House

Washington, DC 20500

Dear Mr. President:

Earlier this month, Congress passed S. 1927, an interim response to your Administration=s proposal for changes in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). That legislation, which you signed into law, expires in six months. At our request, the House and Senate Judiciary and Intelligence Committees will be conducting thorough oversight of the implementation of these interim changes, and are working to produce a longer-term response to your proposal for Congress to consider well in advance of the expiration of the current law.

We understand that this work has been hindered by the Administration=s continuing refusal to provide all of the documents and other information sought by the committees. Therefore we request a prompt response, at a classified level where necessary, to all outstanding document and information requests by the committees. Although recent efforts by the Director of National Intelligence and other Administration officials to provide some information have been steps in the right direction, much more needs to be done.

A satisfactory response to our request would include materials requested by the committees on both current and previous surveillance programs, legal and other memoranda supporting such programs, applications for surveillance, any pleadings and courts orders involved, as well as all information set forth in the Senate Judiciary Committee subpoena of June 27, 2007. All of this material and information should be available for all members of the committees to review, and be made available to a sufficient number of appropriately cleared staff of the committees.

Prompt action on these requests and full access to this information is critical as the Congress considers modifications to FISA that will ensure effective intelligence gathering in a manner that protects national security and is consistent with fundamental American freedoms.

Thank you for your attention to this request.

Sincerely,

Nancy Pelosi

Harry Reid

[Subdivisions]

1. Please, please, please, please, please, please, please,

....


PLEASE?! Let us see the documents?

Pretty please? With sugar on it?

[CoffeeCat]

2. I am really sick and tired...

...of the Dem leadership writing the pResident letters--and politely asking him for papers and
documents--and to please do such and such...and to think about doing so and so.

What is this pointless malarky??? Can anyone imagine government representatives--using their majority
status---to write Stalin or Hitler letters as a means to affect change?

Stop this ridiculous nonsense! Galvanize the Dem majority and work as a team! Craft legislation that stops
these neocon, warmongering bastards from destroying our country and our democracy! Do
your damn jobs!! I'm out here in the cheap seats, watching as Habeas Corpus is destroyed,
our civil rights obliterated and our Constitution torn to shreds. ...and your response is
business correspondence????

Cease and desist all letter writing! Both of you know this is disingenuous, ineffective and a waste of time.

We're in dire straights here, Nancy and Harry. In case you hadn't noticed!

Get your butts out on the House and Senate floor---lead those representatives and work on legislation
that reflects the views of the people who voted you into that majority. Start acting like we're in the majority
instead of a bunch of candy-ass, note-writing pansies!!!

We didn't elect you to send polite correspondence!! Get in the ring and fight for us. NOW!!!!!

[babylonsister]

3. MOST excellent post! I feel exactly the same way, but you said it so well!

:thumbsup:

[L. Coyote]

4. HEY! This "pointless malarky???" is the opposite of silence, and the historical record

in the making.

Would you rather the Dems remain silent, say nothing, do nothing, just "move on" and forget it all? I doubt it.

They get in the ring and start fighting. What do you do. BOOOO them.

Bush is the President with all the power of the Executive.
That is what they are contending with, and must contend with.

And, that will not change by ranting. If near half of the Rs in the Senate want to impeach Bush, then tactics can change.