FISA: Dead Issue or Sleeping Monster?

[marmar]

from AlterNet's PEEK:



FISA: Dead Issue or Sleeping Monster?

Posted by Richard Blair, The All Spin Zone at 7:28 AM on January 30, 2008.

FISA expires this coming Friday. That means Bush has three days left to exert pressure on the GOP minority to get something passed.



Yesterday, the House voted to extend the current FISA for 15 days. It was set to expire on Friday, and there's been a pitched battle in the Senate, with a key Republican defecting to the Dem's side in voting to deny cloture of the version of the bill that offers immunity to telecommunications companies. The future of FISA depends on constituent pressure - so, make the call today.

On Monday, the Senate voted overwhelmingly against cloture of the pending FISA bill, which as written, provides total immunity for telecoms in the U.S. against possible lawsuits for illegally assisting and enabling the Bush administration in conducting warrantless domestic wiretapping. Even Snarlin' Arlen Specter broke ranks with his fellow Republicans and voted to kill cloture. Glenn Greenwald has a great summation and updates from his live blogging of the various votes that were held regarding FISA.

FISA expires this coming Friday. That means that the Bush administration has three days left to exert pressure on the GOP minority to get something passed - and George Bush has vowed to veto any bill that comes to him as an "extension" of the current law, or one that excludes telecom immunity. As things stand now, the Dems in the Senate have held together, perhaps at Sen. Chris Dodd's request, but more likely because they've been hearing from their constituents.

Yesterday afternoon, the House passed a 15 day extension of the current FISA, and the extension has been sent to the Senate. Will it pass? If I was in possession of a magic 8-ball, I'd probably get the response, "All Signs Point to Yes". And then the question becomes, will the Senate forward the extension to Bush, one he's vowed to veto?

I'm not sure what the game is that Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi have been playing with FISA. Prior to the Christmas recess, they shelved the bill (after a threatened Dodd filibuster, and in the face of a lot of backlash from progressives). They knew they were just delaying the inevitable showdown, and we're pretty much there at this moment. Passions are running hot on both sides of the issue. ..........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/75442/

[Robbien]

1. McJoan over at dKos has a good entry on this

Maybe they just wanted to make the Senate see how if feels to have a piece of controversial legislation dumped on them right before the other body takes off, just like last August with the last FISA bill. But here's some fun news, the House just passed by voice vote a 15 day extension of the PAA.

Now the PAA isn't necessarily a good thing to be extending, but politically, this was the best we could hope for in the short term from the House. This gives the Senate something to focus on--an extension of the existing law. It also potentially puts the Republicans in a difficult position given the imminent expiration of the law. If they continue to obstruct allowing any amendments to the current base bill, they will be responsible for letting the law expire. Their president has been telling them that all hell will break loose and the terrorists will win if they let it expire. Being the ones responsible would put them in a slightly uncomfortable position, wouldn't it.

House Republicans might actually be in conflict with their Senate colleagues, since they actually helped push this extension, and they seem convinced that Bush would not veto this extension if they passed it. We'll see if the Senate is listening.

In the meantime, while the PAA is a crappy bill, this extension would give us more time to keep the pressure going on Rockefeller and crew to be actual Democrats and fight for a FISA bill that actually protects the rights of Americans.

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/1/29/162246/819/867/445590

GOPers have been playing a very strange game on this. I expect it is because somehow the Dems haven't backed down and given GOPers want they demand. GOPers don't know how to act when Dems stop catering to their every whim.