Via mcjoan:

[Leahy]: I have said since the beginning of this debate that I would oppose a bill that did not provide accountability for this administration’s six years of illegal, warrantless wiretapping. This bill would dismiss ongoing cases against the telecommunications carriers that participated in that program without allowing a judicial review of the legality of the program.

[Feingold]: The proposed FISA deal is not a compromise; it is a capitulation. The House and Senate should not be taking up this bill, which effectively guarantees immunity for telecom companies alleged to have participated in the President’s illegal program, and which fails to protect the privacy of law-abiding Americans at home.

Obama: crickets . . .

Now that a couple of ex-sex offenders have won the lottery -- not a very newsworthy event, despite this coverage -- expect "outraged" legislators to pursue laws prohibiting ex-sex offenders from buying lottery tickets.

As Big Tent Democrat wrote earlier, the FISA compromise is a done deal. The text of the bill is here. The AP reports here. The ACLU responds:

“This bill allows for mass and untargeted surveillance of Americans’ communications. The court review is mere window-dressing – all the court would look at is the procedures for the year-long dragnet and not at the who, what and why of the spying. Even this superficial court review has a gaping loophole – ‘exigent’ circumstances can short cut even this perfunctory oversight since any delay in the onset of spying meets the test and by definition going to the court would cause at least a minimal pause. Worse yet, if the court denies an order for any reason, the government is allowed to continue surveillance throughout the appeals process, thereby rendering the role of the judiciary meaningless. In the end, there is no one to answer to; a court review without power is no court review at all.”

More...

Via mcjoan, the NYTimes Ed Board writes:

If Congress cannot pass a clean bill that fixes the one real problem with FISA, it should simply extend the temporary authorization. At a minimum, the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, and the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, should oppose FISA expansion and pledge to revisit it next year. If any significant changes are going to be made, they should be made under the next president. There are clear differences between the candidates. Senator John McCain, who is sounding more like Mr. Bush every day, believes the president has the power to eavesdrop on Americans without a warrant.

Senator Barack Obama opposes immunity and voted against the temporary expansion of FISA. We hope he will show strong leadership this time. He might even take time off from the campaign to vote against the disturbing deal brewing in the back rooms of Congress.

(Emphasis supplied.) The time to lead on FISA is now Senator Obama.

Speaking for me only

Via mcjoan:

Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she wants the [FISA] matter settled before Congress breaks for Independence Day at the end of next week, suggesting she is ready to bring the issue to a head. "We want to pass a bill that will be signed by the president," she said. "And that will happen before we leave for the Fourth of July.

(Emphasis supplied.) How bad a Speaker has Nancy Pelosi been? Even now she craves the chance to cave in to the most unpopular President in history. Just unbelievable.

Speaking for me only

Jonathan Singer writes:

According to The Hill's Jared Allen and Jackie Kucinich, the House leadership, most members of which have not endorsed in the presidential race, are calling the [gas tax holiday] plan "DOA", or dead on arrival. Specifically, both Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer have spoken on the record as to their opposition to such a move.

While this is good imo (Jeralyn favors the gas tax holiday), it is funny how they can not declare FISA telco immunity DOA or how they could never declare Iraq funding without a date certain DOA. I have little respect for the leadership of Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer.

mcjoan has the details:

So the question is, who's doing the tugging [on FISA capitulation] here, the frosh Blue Dogs or Hoyer? Obviously, the majority of the Blue Dog coalition can be controlled by leadership. They were back in March when only five of them defected on supporting the much better, telco amnesty-free House bill.

So why in the hell does this puny group of freshman concern trolls have a say in this at all? Why is Hoyer bending over backwards to find a "compromise" that will appease them?

Hoyer is doing what Hoyer wants to do. Do not kid yourself into thinking the Blue Dogs are forcing him to do anything.

The Senate today extended U.S. Immigration laws to the Northern Mariana Islands:

Legislation vehemently opposed by convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff finally passed the Senate today, extending U.S. immigration laws to the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI).

The CNMI's porous borders had allowed for sex trafficking, exploitation of guest workers and illegal businesses to flourish on the islands, according to the bill's supporters.

Along with Abramoff, there was Tom DeLay: [More...]

Bump and Update: President Bush signed the Second Chance Act into law today. Here are his remarks.

The country was built on the belief that each human being has limitless potential and worth. Everybody matters. We believe that even those who have struggled with a dark past can find brighter days ahead. One way we act on that belief is by helping former prisoners who've paid for their crimes -- we help them build new lives as productive members of our society.

Our government has a responsibility to help prisoners to return as contributing members of their community. But this does not mean that the government has all the answers. Some of the most important work to help ex-convicts is done outside of Washington, D.C., in faith-based communities and community-based groups. It's done on streets and small town community centers. It's done in churches and synagogues and temples and mosques.

...The bill I'm signing today, the Second Chance Act of 2007, will build on work to help prisoners reclaim their lives. In other words, it basically says: We're standing with you, not against you.

By Big Tent Democrat

Glenn Greenwald, Marcy Wheeler and mcjoan have been all over Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey over a phantom phone call Mukasey has been referencing in arguing for telecom immunity in FISA. Greenwald reports a major development:

I just received the following statement from the Vice Chairman of the 9/11 Commission, Rep. Lee Hamilton, in response to my inquiries last week (and numerous follow-up inquiries from readers here) about Attorney General Michael Mukasey's claims about the 9/11 attack and, specifically, about Mukasey's story that there was a pre-9/11 telephone call from an "Afghan safe house" into the U.S. that the Bush administration failed to intercept or investigate:

I am unfamiliar with the telephone call that Attorney General Mukasey cited in his appearance in San Francisco on March 27. The 9/11 Commission did not receive any information pertaining to its occurrence.

Mukasey has some splainin' to do.

Cheers to Sen. Chris Dodd for introducing S. 2627 this week. The bill would amend the Higher Education Act to end mandatory elimination of financial aid to students with drug convictions. Loss of financial aid would only occur if the state or federal judge sentencing the student orders aid suspension.

The bill adds a new paragraph to the aid loss section of the statute that reads:

This subsection shall only apply to a student if the Federal or State court that convicted the student of an offense described in paragraph (1) has ordered that the student's eligibility for assistance under this title be suspended in accordance with this subsection.'.

Students for a Sensible Drug Policy says:

Although the penalty should be repealed outright, the judicial
discretion bill would tremendously reduce its impact by turning it into an opt-in punishment instead of an automatic one. Take action now by spending one minute to edit and send a pre-written letter to your senators!

The bill has been referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. So far there are no co-sponsors.

Just to remind everyone of what is at stake in November....

The House today failed to override President Bush's veto of the anti-torture bill.

The 225-188 roll call Tuesday by which the House failed to override President Bush's veto of a bill that would have prohibited the CIA from using waterboarding and other harsh interrogation techniques on terrorist suspects.