Senate panel punts on FISA bill markup

[babylonsister]

Are we about to be punked again? Pass it and head for the hills?

Senate panel punts on surveillance bill markup
By Manu Raju | Posted: 11/8/07 11:56 a.m.
November 08, 2007


A Senate panel on Thursday delayed action on a bill to overhaul the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, setting up a showdown on the highly contentious measure on the eve of lawmakers’ Thanksgiving recess.

Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) said he would delay Thursday’s markup until next week to mollify Republicans’ complaints that they had not had enough time to review the measure, which would impose new oversight on the Bush administration’s warrantless wiretapping program. Leahy is planning on making changes to a bill that the Intelligence Committee approved by a 13-2 vote last month.

The panel had planned to mark up part of the bill Thursday and address the more controversial provisions next week.

The outcome of next week’s debate will elevate the issue of national security and privacy rights along the presidential and congressional campaign trails when Congress takes a two-week break over Thanksgiving. Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has signaled he wants the chamber to vote on the bill when the Senate returns in early December. An administration-backed interim bill — which Congress quickly approved in August despite strong concerns from the Democratic base — expires in February.

The Intelligence Committee bill includes a controversial provision that would provide retroactive immunity for telephone companies that allegedly participated in the secret wiretapping program after the Sept. 11 attacks, provided they show that they received authorization from the government. The Judiciary Committee appears to be at loggerheads on the issue.

more...

http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/senate-panel-punts-on-surveillance-bill-markup-2007-11-08.html

[robinlynne]

1. It also includes blacnket warrants, whihc noone is even mentioning anymore. have we already

given up on the blanket warrants? I swear, there is always one issue spoken about (as in torture with Mukasey), and others which just disappear into the background, and we ALWAYS lose on them. (such as the fact that Mukasey does not think the laws apply to the rpesident in a time of war. hello! or the fact that blanket warrants are not really warrants at all.)