House Judiciary Comm. to Hold FISA Hearing Sept. 5

By Jeralyn, Section Other Politics
Posted on Wed Aug 29, 2007 at 05:50:10 PM EST
Tags: FISA, NSA wiretapping (all tags)

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House Judiciary Committee Chair John Conyers announced today the committee will hold a hearing on FISA on September 5, 2007.

"Warrantless Surveillance and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA): The Role of Checks and Balances in Protecting Americans’ Privacy Rights." The hearing will be held on Wednesday, September 5, at 10:15 a.m. in room 2141 of the Rayburn House Office Building.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had asked for the hearing in an August 4 letter.

Tonight, the House passed S. 1927, a bill approved by the Senate yesterday, which is an interim response to the Administration's request for changes in FISA, and which was sought to fill an intelligence gap which is asserted to exist. Many provisions of this legislation are unacceptable, and, although the bill has a six month sunset clause, I do not believe the American people will want to wait that long before corrective action is taken.

Accordingly, I request that your committees send to the House, as soon as possible after Congress reconvenes, legislation which responds comprehensively to the Administration's proposal while addressing the many deficiencies in S. 1927.

< R.I.P. Richard Jewell | Beginning of the End for Sen. Larry Craig >

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House Judiciary Comm. to Hold FISA Hearing Sept. 5 | 3 comments (3 topical)

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Blow, Dems ... Blow like the Wind! (none / 0) (#1)
by Ellie on Thu Aug 30, 2007 at 07:58:04 AM EST

Wow, after the spectacular FISA cavein slash flameout, this is beyond proverbially shutting the barn door after the horse ran out [at a sweaty, thundering gallop].

It's even beyond doing it after the galloping horse ran in and won the Kentucky Derby at a record pace.

It's like convening a panel to decide whether the barn door needed to be closed after watching the escaped horse win in a rerun of the Kentucky Derby on ESPN-Classic.

Come on, Dems ... together America can do better. Way better.

I'm really sorry if this qualifies as a troll but I can't believe someone in the Dems can't scrape up enough mojo to invoke the ghost of Shirley Chisholm to show them how to be unbought and unbossed. Even just standing upright in honor of her memory would be cool right now.

My criticism isn't based on a fraudulent secondhand "narrative" or mindlessly repeating something I heard from someone else. This is genuinely disgraceful.

This too little too late measure not only typical of the enfeebled, toothless, clueless fake opposition the Dems have been but a major reason we have defacto one party Rethuggernaut rule.

To paraphrase Bart Simpson's description of Mayor Quimby's campaign: It both sucks and blows.

: Beyond Bart (none / 0) (#2)
by NMvoiceofreason on Thu Aug 30, 2007 at 11:42:33 AM EST

What we have in our LeaderSheep are people who, for rank political expediency and unwillingness to inconvenience their vacation travel plans, betrayed the Constitution. They also betrayed every person they represent.

The Oath of Office and the Constitution
Oath
I, [name], do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.
5 U.S.C. §3331
The question today is, who are the domestic enemies, and in the famous words of Pogo "We have met the enemy and they iz us"?

6 month sunset provision (none / 0) (#3)
by tnthorpe on Thu Aug 30, 2007 at 05:15:12 PM EST

The legislation does have a 6 month sunset provision, and, as the Slate blog makes clear, this law needs more rather than less scrutiny. I'd hate to see the present 6-month extension made permanent. As I see it, the Congress has the future AG confirmation hearing, FISA, and Iraq funding ($50,000,000,000 worth), not to mention a raft of subpoenas to enforce all coming up in the next few weeks. Lots of opportunities for them to take aim at the Bush Administration's authoritarian regime of lies and seecrecy. So, do the Dem leaders continue punting or do they act as they ought? Can Pelosi rein in the bluedogs? Will the 16 Senators who enabled FISA in the Senate take a leadership role on the renewal debate? How many Republicans will grow a conscience and work for decent law, not authoritarian expansions of executive power? Though both posts above rightly point out how the Dems have failed, I think that their constituencies have given them an earful over the Aug. recess. Can the Dems use their opportunity? So, I'm tepidly encouraged by the early scheduling of the hearings on FISA, but we'll need to see what in fact they do.