FISA Update: Retroactive Immunity Amendment Votes Likely = Maybe Tomorrow Morning

[L. Coyote]

FISA Update: Retroactive Immunity Vote Likely Tomorrow Morning
By Paul Kiel - February 4, 2008 - http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/02/fisa_update_retroactive_immuni.php


The Senate has just renewed debate on the surveillance bill, but it appears that the most anticipated votes will occur at the very earliest tomorrow morning, or as late as Wednesday.

The two sides have yet to hash out the timing, but we hear that the two amendments dealing with retroactive immunity -- that's both the Feingold/Dodd amendment to strip retroactive immunity for the telecoms that cooperated with the administration's warrantless wiretapping program and the Specter/Whitehouse amendment that would substitute the government in lawsuits related to the program -- will be offered at the earliest tomorrow morning.

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[L. Coyote]

1. Feingold "Pleased" with Surveillance Bill Deal

Feingold "Pleased" with Surveillance Bill Deal
By Paul Kiel - February 1, 2008 - http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/02/feingold_pleased_with_surveill.php

Here's a statement just out from Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI) on the deal:

“I am pleased that Republicans have finally backed down from their efforts to ram a deeply flawed FISA bill through the Senate without votes on amendments. We all agree that FISA needs to be updated so our government can go after the foreign communications of suspected terrorists. But we must not provide overly broad and unnecessary powers that infringe on the rights and privacy of law-abiding Americans, especially to an administration that has proven it cannot be trusted.

........

[Leopolds Ghost]

2. "Pleased!?"