Eavesdropping Bill Stalls in Committee

[Judi Lynn]

Eavesdropping Bill Stalls in Committee
By LAURIE KELLMAN , 09.07.2006, 01:02 PM

President Bush's support proved insufficient to push a bill authorizing his warrantless wiretapping program through the Senate Judiciary Committee Thursday.

Sen. Arlen Specter, the committee's chairman, said the bill stalled because of election-year obstructionism.

"We have seen the incipient stage of filibuster by amendment," the Pennsylvania Republican testily declared as he called off a vote to move his bill to the Senate floor. "Filibuster by speech, filibuster by amendment. Obstructionism."

The target of his ire was Sen. Russell Feingold, D-Wis., who spoke against the bill for about a quarter of the panel's two-hour meeting and offered four amendments. Feingold, a possible presidential candidate, said Specter's bill would give the White House too much power to eavesdrop without a warrant in some circumstances.
(snip/...)

http://www.forbes.com/entrepreneurs/entresales/feeds/ap/2006/09/07/ap3000579.html

[MrModerate]

1. Clearly, it's only OK when Republicans use . . .

established procedures to have their concerns heard in committee. If Democrats use such procedures, it's "obstructionism."

The 'Licans aren't trying to get anything passed, just show that they're they only party you can trust to keep Osama bin Laden out of your underwear drawer.

[Vincardog]

2. As long as SOMEBODY keeps the NeoConvicts out of my underwear drawer

[loves_dulcinea]

20. by replacing him with bush!

open the drawer and there he is! PEEP-EYE!!!!
d'oh! i thought you'd written obl. i'm dyslexic. DYSLEXICS UNTIE!

[SteppingRazor]

3. "The target of his ire was Sen. Russell Feingold..."

The more I hear about Russ, the more I like him.

[NoodleyAppendage]

4. Feingold = I Am Legend.

Except in his case, Feingold isn't fighting the living dead. He's working against the fascist dead.

J

[rodeodance]

5. Good for you Russ Feingold and Thank YOU very much.

[bowens43]

6. Anything other then total capitulation is obstructionism. nt

[rodeodance]

7. Russ says it well here:

....."The president has basically said: I'll agree to let a court decide if I'm breaking the law if you pass a law first that says I'm not breaking the law," Feingold said. "That won't help re-establish a healthy respect for separation of powers. It will only make matters worse."

The super-secret National Security Agency's surveillance program, created after the Sept. 11 attacks, monitors phone calls and e-mails between terrorism suspects overseas and people on American soil. News reports in December disclosed the program.

The need for Congress to give legal status to the program gained a sense of urgency last month when a federal judge in Detroit ruled that it violated rights to free speech and privacy as well as constitutional separation of powers.

The administration has appealed that ruling, contending that the president, as commander in chief, is justified in taking action to protect the nation during times of war.

[rodeodance]

9. Specter's bill was negotiated with the administration--AKA CHENEY!

Specter's bill was negotiated with the administration. It would submit the program to a special court for a one-time constitutional review, expand the time for emergency warrants from three to seven days and require the attorney general to inform Congress's intelligence committees on the program's activities every six months.

[rodeodance]

11. Specter grumbledL---the WH would continue wiretapping unchecked. yes

he may be right. yet which is worse?


......Opposition to the bill was no surprise. Feingold and five other senators, three of them Republicans, wrote Specter a day earlier complaining that a new version of his bill should be studied further before the panel votes.

Forced to delay his committee's vote, Specter grumbled that without his legislation the White House would continue its domestic wiretapping program virtually unchecked by the courts.

One such measure, backed by a group of moderate Senate Republicans, poses the biggest threat to Specter's bill because it would impose tighter restrictions on the administration's power to wiretap. The House, too, was considering a measure that would impose tougher checks on the president's power.



Relevant bills are S 2453, S 2468, S2455, S3001, S2831, HR 4976, HR 5371, HR 5825

[annabanana]

14. The same terms that they give everyone

"First you give up, then we'll talk"

In Iraq, in Iran.. and the same tactic was used against Hezbollah..

(they keep using it because it works so well:sarcasm: )

[MessiahRp]

8. Yay for Russ Feingold

Arlen Specter can fuck off... him and his Magic Bullet Theories.

Rp

[NOLADEM]

10. Feingold is my candidate thus far for 08,

Can I get some info from those who oppose him as the nominee as to why?

It is early, and I am still very open. I like him though. And he doesn't have those votes that haunt him. He has chutzpah.

[havocmom]

12. First Bolton vote, now this. GOP is running scared. Won't go on record

this close to election?

Election year obstructionism? Yeah, by the party in power!

Chicken shit chicken hawks. All bluster and no guts.

[sinkingfeeling]

13. Excellent! We have to keep the pressure on!!

[CantGetFooledAgain]

15. Go Russ!

And FU very much, Arlen Specter.

[peacebird]

16. glimmers of hope....

[Nictuku]

17. Go Russ!!!

[Supersedeas]

18. Rubber stamp Specter showing his true colors

[rodeodance]

19. delays are good news. Let them squable and let the WH squirm