Offering frequent news and analysis from the majestic Evergreen State and beyond, The Cascadia Advocate is the Northwest Progressive Institute's unconventional perspective on world, national, and local politics.

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Pacific Northwest Democratic senators stand with Chris Dodd on telecom immunity

The United States Senate has once again abandoned the American people in favor of protecting corporations - in this case, the telcos:
The Senate rejected Democratic attempts Tuesday to scale back expansion of the government's powers to monitor phone calls and e-mails as part of its efforts to fight terrorism.

Senators also voted to immunize telecommunications companies from lawsuits for their role in aiding the government's warrantless wiretapping program.

The bill, comprised of amendments to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, now goes to the House for a potential showdown with the White House. The House version offers no protection for the telecom industry and more restrictions on the government's power. The president has threatened to veto the bill unless it is close to the Senate version.

FISA provides a framework for eavesdropping on communications by foreign agents operating within and outside the U.S. It typically forces the government to obtain a court order from a secret intelligence court before a wiretap can be put in place.
The Northwest Progressive Institute harshly condemns the Senate's vote to approve S. 2248 and thanks those Democratic senators who stood with Chris Dodd in opposing retroactive immunity for telcos.

We are proud of our Democratic senators in the Pacific Northwest for voting against this dangerous bill: Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray of Washington, Ron Wyden of Oregon, and Jon Tester of Montana.

We will remember their courage, and we will also remember the names of the Democrats who failed the American people:

Evan Bayh of Indiana
Max Baucus of Montana*
Thomas Carper of Delaware
Bob Casey of Pennsylvania*
Kent Conrad of North Dakota
Daniel Inouye of Hawaii
Tim Johnson of South Dakota
Herb Kohl of Wisconsin
Claire McCaskill of Missouri
Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas
Mary Landrieu of Louisiana
Barbara Mikulski of Maryland
Bill Nelson of Florida
Ben Nelson of Nebraska
Mark Pryor of Arkansas
Ken Salazar of Colorado
James Webb of Virginia
Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island*

* denotes senator who did vote for Chris Dodd's amendment to improve the bill

We're very, very disappointed to see some of the names on that list.

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