March 14th, 2008
House nixes telecom immunity, votes to investigate abuses
The House just passed a FISA bill without immunity for telecom companies!
The White House is pissed off:
The White House circulated a statement after the vote calling it a “a significant step backward in defending our country against terrorism” that was “not a serious effort to move the legislative process forward.”
“Not a serious effort” means I’m gonna veto this sucker and you knew it, so the Democrat party is just pissing in the wind.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation is jubilant.
“Amnesty proponents have been claiming on the Hill for months that phone companies like AT&T had a good faith belief that the NSA program was legal. Under this bill, the companies could do what they should have been able to do all along: tell that story to a judge,” said attorney Kevin Bankston.
Not only is there no telecom immunity but the House bill creates a legislative Commission on Warrantless Electronic Surveillance Activities to investigate intel abuses from 9/11 through 2006.
Especially because the commission would be organized under the legislative branch, and would have subpoena power with the authority to enforce its subpoenas in court, it could result in some embarrassing disclosures about the National Security Agency’s surveillance program.
