Delay in reapproving surveillance may be opening for civil liberties protections

Nick Juliano
Raw Story
Monday October 08, 2007

The next few days will see a furious lobbying effort as progressive lawmakers and their political allies build on a small victory to get privacy protection and liability for telecommunications companies included in a revision to a decades-old surveillance law.

Congressional leaders delayed announcing permanent changes to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance act Friday, giving civil liberties advocates more time to push for explicit judicial oversight of surveillance aimed at Americans.

The public is expected to get its first peek at the new law's provisions Tuesday, giving progressive lawmakers a tactical victory and allowing them a few more days to lobby Democratic leaders to accept a number of provisions in the bill.

The Congressional Progressive Caucus on Friday released an eight-point plan outlining its position on updating the new law. Just after the plan was released, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer canceled a press conference to announce the updated provisions, as first reported in the Huffington Post.

The House Intelligence Committee had scheduled a mark-up of the new bill for next Wednesday, but that may be pushed back now, as the announcement of the proposed law has not been finalized, a committee spokeswoman told RAW STORY.

It's unclear how much impact the Progressive Caucus had in delaying the bill announcement, but those skeptical of the Bush administration's push to expand its power are cautiously optimistic that the delay will allow more debate than was given to the temporary update passed in July and August. That bill, the Protect America Act, was approved hours before Congress adjourned for a month-long recess and its provisions expire in February.

Permanent FISA revisions are expected to move through Congress by the end of this year, but Friday's delay indicates Democratic leaders may be backing off plans to push an update through before November, a congressional staffer told RAW STORY.

Until Tuesday, no one knows precisely what is to be proposed in the new bill, but primary points of contention include warrant requirements before Americans are spied upon and retroactive immunity to telecommunications carriers.

Draft summaries of the proposed legislation have been circulated to members of Congress and outside advocates, including at least one that did not include immunity from prosecution for telecommunications companies that assisted the government's warrantless wiretapping program, according to the ACLU.

After the Progressive Caucus released its list, the House Intelligence Committee apparently reached out to civil liberties groups in crafting the final bill. The American Civil Liberties Union sent an e-mail to members asking them to urge Democratic lawmakers to support the Progressive Caucus's requests.

Last week's news that the bill was being temporarily put on hold followed dim predictions that Congress would again ram through a bill unacceptable to civil liberties advocates. Matt Stoller reported Thursday that the ACLU and others had been shut out of negotiations over the "new and bad" bill that had been expected Friday.

After news of the delay broke, Stoller observed that it represented unity among freshmen members and progressives against an ineffective, overly expansive bill, and he credited the attention being paid to the debate by bloggers and activists online.

"The Democratic leadership is watching the ACLU's new-found alliance with the blogger activist community," Stoller wrote, "and getting nervous at the unpredictable nature of a potential response."