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White House, Congress FISA Talks Collapse
Just out from Congressional Quarterly:
Congressional Democrats and the White House have broken off negotiations over a legislative fix to an intelligence gap without a deal, but Democrats threatened to press forward with a bill regardless.House Democratic leaders were taking procedural steps at midday Friday to allow them to call up a bill to revise the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA — PL 95-511) to address problems that have been identified by intelligence community leaders.
In the Senate, Democrats remained divided over the legislation. Independent Bernard Sanders of Vermont, a liberal who aligns with Democrats, was voicing concerns about privacy implications of the bill. “Everything’s still under discussion,” he said.
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Comments (24)
phred wrote on August 3, 2007 3:20 PM:Thank God.
Old 33 wrote on August 3, 2007 3:29 PM:With the GOP's dual strategy of a) claiming that terrorists will reduce the U.S. Capitol to a pile of rubble in the next six weeks; and b) that the GOP "won't leave for recess" until FISA is amended...it would be absolutely fitting if the Democrats just continues work on the FISA bill.
The GOP will then likely filibuster it, at which point Reid can note that the Democrats are prepared to overhaul FISA prior to the recess prior but for the obstruction of the GOP. Go out on recess and be done with it.
Mark C wrote on August 3, 2007 3:33 PM:On the other hand, if they all had to stay in DC during August, it would prevent Bush from making a bunch of recess appointments...
Good. There is absolutely no reason to rush this through literally in the last minutes before the Aug recess.
Let bush carry through on his threat to keep teh Senate in session.
I predict he won't. Fear is a lot harder to sell when people have a chance to slow down and think things through....
Bob wrote on August 3, 2007 3:52 PM:Recess appointments should be outlawed. But even if they were, it wouldn't stop Bush from appointing people anymore than it's stopped him from doing illegal wiretaps, torture, or lying to the US Congress through his proxies. I only hope the next President will turn back the clock and make the government start obeying the law.
nofltwlt wrote on August 3, 2007 4:17 PM:If Bush wants it, it can't be good.
P J Evans wrote on August 3, 2007 4:27 PM:With any luck, we can talk the Democrats back to sanity.
eli wrote on August 3, 2007 5:08 PM:I'm still waiting to hear someone from the intelligence community explain to me why the old FISA setup wasn't satisfactory. Not that they ever let it stop them...
Jim wrote on August 3, 2007 6:14 PM:Stop this Bill, we're not dealing with people who can be trusted
kentuck wrote on August 3, 2007 7:31 PM:I can't take it anymore. I am changing my registration to Independent and I will be looking elsewhere - someplace besides the weasly Democratic Party. Sorry. They have had every opportunity.n Just for once, I wish I could feel that I belonged to a political Party that I could trust to do the right thing.
joep wrote on August 3, 2007 7:50 PM:Kentuck,
The dems are holding up the FISA changes that Commander Codpiece wants. They are fighting the fight. Remember they only hold a one vote majority, so they can't do it all by themselves. They need to help on the other side of the aisle. That is reality. They have not had every opportunity, so just suck it up and get more progressives elected. To do anything else, you would be more a concern troll than anything else. If a particular dem seems too wishy washy, then help get a more progressive dem elected, but don't write off the party.
joep wrote on August 3, 2007 7:50 PM:Kentuck,
The dems are holding up the FISA changes that Commander Codpiece wants. They are fighting the fight. Remember they only hold a one vote majority, so they can't do it all by themselves. They need to help on the other side of the aisle. That is reality. They have not had every opportunity, so just suck it up and get more progressives elected. To do anything else, you would be more a concern troll than anything else. If a particular dem seems too wishy washy, then help get a more progressive dem elected, but don't write off the party.
Molly Ivans wrote on August 3, 2007 8:19 PM:Raise Hell !!
Molly Ivans wrote on August 3, 2007 8:21 PM:Raise Hell !!
CruzBustamove wrote on August 3, 2007 10:04 PM:What is wrong with FISA as it exists?
johnnydoughey wrote on August 3, 2007 11:49 PM:Get a warrant, or, get one retroactively, within 72 hours. Seems pretty simple. What am I missing?
Tomorrow is Saturday. Congress will undoubtably pass the new recommendations just the way Bush wants it. Both sides will declare a victory. They will then tell us they did the best they could under the situation (they won't mention the situation was that the discussion was cutting into their vacation).
They will feel exhilerated, knowing that they put in so much effort for the American public.
Just call me clairvoyant
improper wrote on August 4, 2007 12:19 AM:Pelosi and Reid are repub light and both are an utter and complete fucking joke of a failure. Pelosi and Reid should be impeached. Reid and Pelosi only lead when it involves converting the executive's inane authoritarian rants into law. Example FISA. Congress (Senate already House to follow) will yield on FISA, because after all the dems and repubs are both worthless craven for power Shylok like money grubbing corporate whores. DC needs a naturally occurring wipe out plague while Congress is in session.
Anonymous wrote on August 4, 2007 10:59 AM:We're getting to the point that we can't tell if democrats are really democrats or whether they are republicans.
You don't have to be a blind conservative not to see it, just an ignornat one to deny it.
Jake wrote on August 4, 2007 12:51 PM:With an approval rating of 4 percent for Pelosi, I guess she has the nation behind her all the way for these foolish actions of this failed democrat congress. What fools these democrats are. The could have had everything they wanted if they had not started all these stupid and unproductive investigations. Whether you like it or not they are not finding any smoking guns. Even prosecuting Libby was a failure and they could only get him in a perjury trap. How many of YOU can remember your EXACT words from 3 or 4 years ago. He did not out Plame and that was the only valid reason for this stupid mess, yet Fitzgerald continued to a sad and really stupid failure.
Anonymous wrote on August 4, 2007 12:56 PM:With an approval rating of 4 percent for Pelosi, and 14 percent for congress as a whole, I guess she has the nation behind her all the way for these foolish actions of this failed democrat congress. What fools these democrats are. The could have had everything they wanted if they had not started all these stupid and unproductive investigations. Whether you like it or not they are not finding any smoking guns. Even prosecuting Libby was a failure and they could only get him in a perjury trap. How many of YOU can remember your EXACT words from 3 or 4 years ago. He did not out Plame and that was the only valid reason for this stupid mess, yet Fitzgerald continued to a sad and really stupid failure.
Scorpio13 wrote on August 4, 2007 2:11 PM:WHAT IS JAKE DOING BACK ON HERE. Wasn't he barred from this thread??
chris joseph wrote on August 4, 2007 6:15 PM:I think the problem our President has with FISA, is that the warrant process causes them to reveal names. How do you explain to a judge that your list of names is several million people in each city because you're using voice and character recognition software being run on supercomputers to monitor ALL electronic communication, not just select people.
m. trust wrote on August 8, 2007 2:38 PM:Excellent point, Chris! Wake up, America...
bang wrote on October 2, 2007 6:36 PM:NkaKNT peace http://peace.com
bang wrote on October 2, 2007 6:36 PM:NkaKNT peace http://peace.com