"Today I took a stand for protecting our nation and protecting our rights.
The truth is we can--we must--fight terrorism and, at the same time, safeguard the civil liberties that make our country great.
Yet the Bush Administration has too often brushed our civil liberties aside.
For more than five years, this Administration secretly spied on Americans' personal information and listened in on private conversations without approval from Congress or the FISA Court that has overseen intelligence surveillance for three decades.
Sadly, this latest FISA bill simply gives George Bush and Dick Cheney too much latitude to continue these abuses.
Our state of New Jersey is no stranger to terrorism and I defer to no one when it comes to protecting our residents and preventing terrorism.
But it is a false and dangerous choice to suggest that walking away from the Constitution is necessary to protect our state.
In our efforts to protect America, we must not forget much of what we are protecting -- the civil liberties that help make our nation so great.
By granting retroactive immunity to telecommunications companies who handed over their customers' data as part of the warrantless wiretapping program, this bill essentially guarantees that no court will ever determine whether the program is illegal.
It also guarantees that consumers will never know the extent to which their privacy rights were violated. And it guarantees that no one will be held accountable for steamrolling the Bill of Rights.
It is particularly disheartening that the immunity provision would put an end to the lawsuit brought by New Jersey Attorney General Anne Milgram for violations of New Jersey's consumer protection laws. Conservatives often talk about "states' rights," but apparently forget that ideal when states seek to protect our civil liberties.
The theme of this Administration is "No Accountability." This FISA bill continues that theme, and that is why I proudly voted against it."
"This bill still provides too much leeway for our government to ignore the rights and freedoms of its own citizens. I voted against it because of the retroactive immunity it provides phone companies that allegedly participated in the president's illegal wiretapping program, because of the loopholes to the requirement of judicial approval for wiretapping, and because it provides too few protections for innocent Americans, among other questionable provisions. Under this law, we will never know what constitutional violations take place.
"We can defend our nation effectively without restricting the protections that law-abiding American citizens are owed. Americans must be able to live in freedom and maintain their personal privacy without fear that their government will intrude. If, in the name of security, the U.S. government encroaches upon the rights we hold dear, then it has ignored what makes this country so special. At the end of the day, we can achieve the security we need while protecting the rights we cherish."
There was alot of campaign related news today, so I decided to do an evening roundup.
Responding to the Bush/McCain proposal to repeal a drilling moratorium that has been in place since 1982, Governor Corzine joined Senators Lautenberg and Menedez along with Congressman Pallone to call for a permanent ban on offshore drilling...
Pallone, Lautenberg and Menendez's legislation would prohibit the U.S. Department of Interior from issuing leases for exploration, development or production of oil, natural gas or any other mineral from Maine to North Carolina.
In NJ-5, Dennis Shulman issued a statement this afternoon opposing the FISA Legislation...
The President, his advisers, and his rubber stamps in Congress, including Scott Garrett, have demonstrated a pattern of disregard for the laws of the United States. This bill not only immunizes telecom companies from lawsuits, but it would also block the American people from ever knowing the full extent of the Bush Administration's illegal behavior.
I urge my fellow Democrats in the Senate to vote against this unnecessary and deeply troubling law. I believe that Congress must protect the rights of citizens and the laws of our country from career politicians in Washington too willing to cave to special interests and endanger the fundamental rights that we, as Americans, hold so dear.
The race in NJ-4 sees Josh Zeitz attempting to hit Chris Smith for donating $2000 to Arizona Congressman Rick Renzi after the Congressman's office was raided by the FBI...
Why did Chris Smith feel it was important to give cash to an obviously corrupt Congressman? No other Member of Congress made such a show of solidarity. We know Smith went out of his way to show his support, because Renzi was the only campaign to receive a contribution from Smith during the reporting period.
Having ranted earlier on FISA and MCA, I'd like to thank our senators for voting to block retroactive immunity, even if it was in a losing effort. I hope they continue to try to improve the bill.
Albio Sires is the only New Jersey Democrat who voted for it. Thanks to our other Representatives as well.
Rush Holt: "Unfortunately the negotiators who brought this bill to the floor bought into the flawed assumptions of the Bush administration that because we live in a dangerous world, we must redefine the Fourth Amendment."
One of the good things about growing older is that we have the chance to learn from our mistakes. I wonder if Democrats in Congress will ever learn how George W. Bush operates. I'd like to think Senators Lautenberg and Menendez learned something from their vote for the Military Commissions Act, but as far as I can tell, they and their colleagues in Congress sit idly by while telecom immunity is pushed through by Republicans. It's the same story all over again. As for what pardoning illegal acts and approving courts with pre-determined outcomes gets us, I recommend this remarkable interview with George W. Bush:
Look at how Menendez and Lautenberg -- yes, and Rob Andrews and all six Republicans -- let Bush say Congress approved his crimes. As Glen Greenwald notes, Republicans are already boasting they won on telecom immunity. Pathetic, and our Democrats in New Jersey, however they officially vote, let it happen again and again.
As Bush says, "We passed a Law." Again, and again.
I interviewed Phil Zelikow via email, who said that he has never heard of any incident of the type alleged by Mr. Mukasey to have occurred. Is the Attorney General's claim about this incident true? Was the 9/11 Commission ever made aware of any such claim?
Will Tom Kean answer, even if he has to show that a high level Bush Administration official using false claims to exploit the 9/11 attack? You might recall that just last December Kean said the CIA impeded the 9/11 Commission.
Wow. Congressional Democrats actually showed some spine today and passed FISA legislation that didn't include retroactive immunity for lawbreaking telecoms. That's kind of unexpected. I'm a little hesitant to heap too much praise because I expect them to cave next time Bush scares them, but maybe this time will be different.
Rush Holt (Chair of the House Select Intelligence Oversight Panel) is teh awesome:
"The President, at this morning's press conference, said that the American people expect we will provide the intelligence community with the tools it needs to protect the country. It has those tools now through the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), and would have all the authority necessary to protect Americans into the future under the RESTORE Act, passed by the House in November. The RESTORE Act embodies the principle that officials must establish before a court that they have reason to intercept communications involving American citizens. What the President really wants is a permanent blank check to conduct indiscriminate collection and fishing expeditions without any judicial oversight. This does not lead to better intelligence.
"The President has had multiple opportunities to work with Congress to modernize FISA. Instead, he has chosen to demagogue this issue through a propaganda campaign, one dependent on fear-mongering and false accusations. If the President is serious about protecting the American people, he'll drop the campaign-style rhetoric and work with us to pass a realistic and workable intelligence surveillance bill."
Liberal House Democrats are pushing for a closed session to discuss the legal underpinnings of President Bush's intelligence surveillance program.
They believe that the more members know about it, the less likely they will be to support Bush's wish to make it permanent.
"I haven't heard anything in closed session that makes me think we need the Protect America Act," said Rep. Rush Holt (D-N.J.), an Intelligence Committee member, referring to a White House-backed interim wiretapping bill that lapsed this month. "Or that FISA [the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act], with modest modifications, isn't the way to go into the future."
The request for the closed session came in a letter coauthored by Holt and Reps. John Tierney (D-Mass.) and Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) to Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). Holt refused to confirm the letter, but other Democrats say it was brought up at Tuesday's Democratic Caucus meeting.
The three want all members allowed to see documents that outline the administration's legal opinions on the program. So far, only Intelligence and Judiciary Committee members have been allowed to see them. [...]
The request comes as Democrats are feeling more confident in their defiance of Bush on his signature issue of national security.
"The pendulum is swinging back on the issue of civil liberties," said House Democratic Caucus Chairman Rahm Emanuel (Ill.) "We may be finding an atmosphere that's much calmer."
Meanwhile, Bush Republicans are demanding amnesty for corporate criminals who facilitate the administration's trampling over the Constitution.
As divisive as politics can get, I think that most of us at least share some core American values, though days like today make me question that assumption a bit. But I still believe it's true. I think this is an example of a vocal political outlier.
State Senator Joe Pennachio thinks the government should be able to spy on you for no reason. He also thinks the telecom companies who helped the Bush administration illegally spy on its own citizens should get a get out of jail free card. But he goes a step further. He actually thinks they should be encouraged to continue breaking the law.
Private citizens must be encouraged to lend their assistance, not punished with lawsuits by the ACLU.
I don't know if he's a fascist, a coward, the ultimate political opportunist, or just a hack for major NJGOP donor/law-breaker Verizon. Whatever it is, he ain't no "Jersey Joe." Civil liberties and the 4th Amendment aren't a throw-away punch line for most of us.
Real Jersey Joe's don't display an elitist disdain for the Constitution and the rule of law. They like the government to keep us safe while minding its own business.
And this clown thinks he can protect us from terrorists? Or is he offering to spare us the pain and cut out the middle man? Who needs terrorists to undermine our democracy when Jersey "pants-piddler" Joe will do it for them?
The man's on a roll. Today's quote of the day comes from Congressman Rush Holt [press release]:
Rep. Rush Holt (NJ-12), a member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, today disputed President Bush's warning that the intelligence community will "go dark" if the "Protect America Act" expires. The intelligence community will still have all the tools it needs to continue current surveillance and begin new surveillance on any terrorist threat, Holt said.
"The only way our intelligence collection against Al Qaeda will 'go dark' is if President Bush doesn't pay the FBI's and NSA's phone bills," Holt said.
According to a January report from the Department of Justice's Inspector General, telecommunication surveillance payments have not been made on time and "have resulted in telecommunications carriers actually disconnecting phone lines established to deliver surveillance results to the FBI, resulting in lost evidence including an instance where delivery of intercept information required by a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) order was halted due to untimely payment."
(The puns never old.) Though the Congress seems to be in a hurry to grant the government the right to spy on its own citizens for no reason and let the telecom companies off the hook for breaking the law, we should be proud that one of our own is standing up for the rule of law.
Congressman Holt says the FISA debate should be about "getting this right" and passing the RESTORE Act rather than the "Protect America Act." A strange coalition, including Congressman Holt, Pallone, Payne and Rothman (along with Blue Dog Dems and Republicans), successfully fought back Pelosi's efforts to extend the flawed "Protect America Act" for another 3 weeks.
Although as a group the Democratic party and leadership failed the country, I want to praise Senators Frank Lautenberg and Bob Menendez for voting the right way on the Dodd-Feingold Amendment to strip the Bush/Rockerfeller/Reid Telecom Immunity provision.
Update [Juan]: Statement from Menendez:
Law-abiding American citizens should be able to trust that their government won?t listen in on their personal communications without a warrant just because they place a call overseas. But that is a real possibility under the FISA legislation just passed by the Senate. The Constitution and the Bill of Rights are things that make this country worth fighting for, and I believe that we can protect the Constitution as well as our security. This bill wrongly assumes that you cannot protect civil liberties at the same time that you are protecting national security. As a result, it significantly undermines the privacy rights of each and every American.
"There is no doubt in my mind that the current Administration will drive a truck through every single loophole that the Republicans blocked us from closing. Those loopholes will allow the bulk collection of communications information, as well as the use of information gathered in violation of FISA's own provisions. We need a national security policy that stops those who would do us harm while protecting that which makes us great: our civil rights and liberties. Sadly, this is not it."
The US Senate will soon consider legislation to update the Foreign Intelligence and Surveillance Act (FISA). The Senate Judiciary Committee and the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence each reported different versions of the proposed legislation.
Senator Menendez was one of 14 Senators to sign a letter to Senate President Harry Reid urging him to use the Senate Judiciary Committee version as "the base bill to be considered in the Senate." Unlike the other version, this one does not include immunity to telecom companies that cooperated with the government's illegal warrantless wiretapping of Americans. "As this is such a controversial issue, we feel it would be appropriate to require the proponents of immunity to make their case on the floor."
The House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence today passed the RESTORE Act, and adopted a few of the changes Congressman Holt recommended yesterday:
"Today, the committee accepted four of my amendments to the RESTORE Act that will increase our ability to help protect Americans from those who would do us physical harm, and from the government itself. While this bill does not contain a key protection I sought-the certainty that the courts will protect U.S. persons from unwarranted surveillance-it is a great improvement on the so-called 'Protect America Act' that the Congress passed in August."
The accepted amendments would:
Require the Bush administration to "fully inform" Congress on all surveillance programs conducted since 9/11.
Increase the number of Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) judges from 11 to 15; provide additional personnel to both the FISC and government agencies responsible for making and processing FISA applications; and create an electronic filing, sharing, and document management system for handling this highly classified data. The amendment would also mandate training in the FISA process.
Require the Court to review and approve not only the targeting procedures and guidelines required under this Act, but also the application of those guidelines.
Clarify that Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) is the sole statutory basis for domestic surveillance.
Unfortunately, the adopted version of the legislation which does not require individual warrants, still violates the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution:
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
Chatting with Congressman Rush Holt the other day left me with the impression that the House leadership (and committee chiefs) are being a bit squishy with our civil liberties. Cases in point: FISA and this week's ENDA debate.
