Senate Spy Debate Set for Next Week (2/1/2008)
ACLU Prepares for Constitutional Showdown
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: (202) 675-2312 or media@dcaclu.org
Washington, DC – On the eve of Groundhog Day, the American Civil
Liberties Union warned the Senate not to doom itself to repeat history with its
upcoming debate on warrantless wiretapping. Both the House and Senate passed a
15-day extension to the Protect America Act in response to President Bush’s
claims that the "flow of vital intelligence" would be disrupted if Congress
could not meet the February 1 deadline. Last night, the Senate reached an
agreement on the rules of the debate which will take place Monday and Tuesday.
The following may be attributed to Caroline Fredrickson, Director of the ACLU
Washington Legislative Office:
"The Senate stands on the verge of making a huge mistake by endorsing the
administration’s massive, untargeted and warrantless surveillance and the
illegal actions by the telecoms. At this point, we're asking the Senate to stand
up to the administration and pass a bill that gives priority to the
constitutionally protected privacy interests of all Americans - not to the
nefarious power grab of an administration now bordering on the brink of
irrelevance. There are several amendments that could improve the bill, including
those to strip immunity out and prevent bulk collection of communication.
"Our demands are simple: stay true to your oath to protect the Constitution.
Stand up against an overreaching executive branch and don’t grant blanket
immunity to huge corporations that sold out Americans’ privacy. What have we
come to when we have to plead with our members of Congress to look out for our
interests over the president’s?
"Unfortunately, this debate has been set up to fail civil liberties and the
Constitution. What’s happened to the outraged majority of last August? Where is
the indignation our leaders felt after being ‘forced’ to pass the Protect
America Act? If senators actually go against the will of the American people and
pass this bill, not only will we never get the truth behind the domestic spying
program, we will have watched our Congress sanction it."
For more information on FISA, go to:
www.aclu.org/fisa
For more information on the ACLU’s work on NSA spying, go
to:
www.aclu.org/nsaspying
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