I don’t know what got into the Democrats today, but they done good.
Washington, DC – The Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives stared down the White House today and decided to stick with their version of revisions to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. The House voted to adjourn without letting the phone companies off the hook for breaking the law by helping the government spy on Americas. The House is leaving town and allowing the unconstitutional Protect America Act to expire this weekend.
Yup. The Republicans refused to pass a temporary extension, so the crappy PAA bill that they rammed through Congress last August (during Yearly Kos) will now expire. We’re back to the good old FISA bill we knew and loved. I enjoyed seeing Pelosi taking no shit.
Q Are you going to vote on extension legislation today, and what kind of progress have you made with your caucus about supporting this.
Speaker Pelosi: No. The President has said he will not sign an extension. An overwhelming number of Democrats supported the extension. All of the Republicans opposed it, and the President said he was going to veto it. That says to me that the President knows he doesn’t need an extension. He knows that the underlying FISA law and the powers given to him in the Protect America Act give him sufficient authority to do all of the surveillance and collecting that he needs to do to protect the American people. If it were so urgent, he would have supported an extension.
Q The administration, they seem to mostly want a path. They speak in terms of wanting a path in terms of the bill. Can you give them some clear read as to when you think an agreement could be reached so that if there was an extension, they could have some confidence that it would be the last one?
Speaker Pelosi: These are not new issues. Everybody understands what retroactive immunity and everybody understands exclusivity. The President does not operate outside the law. There are some other issues that I don’t think will be difficult to resolve. But remember this: Last night, the night before last, the Senate finally passed its bill. We passed our bill a long time ago. They are dilatory tactics on the part of the administration so that they couldn’t pass their bill until toward the end of this session so that they had us up against the wall once again.
How we protect the American people and how we collect intelligence to fight terrorism is a very important responsibility, and we take it deadly seriously.
Q If you were to get an extension such that was denied yesterday, could you say you’re confident
Speaker Pelosi: I will say it this way: We will continue to track that same 21 days because that’s what we think we would need. Of course, with the Members out largely next week, but the principles can be working on it and then when we come back to continue whatever floor action we would need in that regard. But we will make sure that everyone knows what the differences are between us on this legislation, and this is not an issue about whether we want to protect the American people. We certainly do. It is about whether the President can act outside the law. He certainly shouldn’t. Whether he’s a Democrat or he or she is a Republican, they should honor the law?
Q Do you think you could have an agreement in the 21 days?
Speaker Pelosi: I believe we could. Yes, I believe so.
And they charged Josh Bolten and Harriet Miers with contempt of congress. Maybe they’re getting some confidence back.
