The new FISA bill currently includes a provision granting amnesty to telecom companies who might have broken the law and provided private customer information to the government illegally as part of the warrantless wiretapping that was done.
On Thursday Sen Chris Dodd (D-CT) who happens to be running for president said he'd put a hold on the bill. That's right, rather than just issue press releases and then capitulate to Republicans he was going to do something.
Daily Kos explains what a hold is. "So what it comes down to is that the "hold" is simply a matter of "professional courtesy." I want a bill held, so I notify my party leader of my intention to object to any unanimous consent request to bring the bill to the floor. Implied in that is the hint that I will make everyone sorry they brought it up if they don't just give me what I want, and they know by now that any Senator can do that, so they might as well just go ahead and hold it, for the sake of everyone's sanity."
People are happy that "Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) on Thursday condemned Intelligence Committee Democrats for brokering a deal with the White House" but it strikes me as just more talk.
Apparently Dodd has raised $150,000 in small contributions in just 24 hours, more than in the last month. Today Dodd's campaign said he'd filibuster the bill if the hold wasn't honored by Democratic leadership. I wish it was him saying it and not his campaign but at least someone realized that he was doing something good and doing more of it would also be good. Now Joe Biden (D-MD) has said he'd join Dodd's Filibuster. So the question is what will other Dem's do?
I really think the Democrats in the Senate need to watch the original series Star Trek episode A Taste of Armageddon and learn the lesson of Eminiar VII. In a more practical approach Eschaton uses ActBlue to allow you to easily reward good behavior by a candidate with money. Chris Bowers in Open Left notes Dodd "has put together an impressive list of accomplishments and issue positions during the past year" and asks Why Not Dodd?
No comments:
Post a Comment