Sen. Evan Bayh, a Democrat, criticized the Supreme Court for its Monday decision to uphold a voter-identification law in Bayh’s home state of Indiana.
The law requires voters to present photo identification at their polling places. Bayh told PBS talk-show host Tavis Smiley that the requirement, which the court supported on a 6-3 vote, will disenfranchise too many minority, disabled and elderly voters.
Bayh rejected the notion that the law is necessary for security reasons. “[I]n the absence of voter fraud, I just don’t see the reasoning for this,” he said.
The House today passed a bill that would extend by 15 days a law that expanded the Bush administration’s powers to conduct anti-terrorism surveillance without warrants. The law is set to expire Friday. The original measure called for a 30-day extension.
Here are debate excerpts from Democrats John Conyers of Michigan and Jane Harman of California. Conyers said the temporary extension would give Congress more time to reach agreement on “responsible” reform to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act that governs such wiretaps.
Minority Whip Roy Blunt, R-Mo., also addressed the wiretapping debate in a press conference.
Sen. Russell Feingold has been a leading voice against the Bush administration’s surveillance tactics in the war on terrorism. In this interview with the blog Open Left, the Wisconsin Democrat said he illustrates the depth of the surveillance by telling audiences that even e-mail he reads on his BlackBerry from his daughter in England is subject to government monitoring.
“[T]he government can suck up all your e-mails and all your phone calls, whether it be to your son or daughter in Iraq or your child that’s [in her] junior year abroad … and there’s no court oversight of it at all,” Feingold said. “It’s just ‘Trust us’ by the administration.”
President Bush today outlined a legislative wish list for Congress to address between now and Christmas once lawmakers return to work next week, and emergency funding for U.S. troops is at the top of the list.
Bush warned that Defense Secretary Robert Gates is prepared to layoff civilian Defense Department employees, terminate contracts and reduce operations at other U.S. bases across the globe if necessary to give U.S. troops in Afghanistan and Iraq what they need until Congress provides enough money. “Military leaders have told us what they need to do their job,” he said in his weekly radio address. “It is time for the Congress to do its job and give our troops what they need to protect America.”
The president’s other priorities include an update to and extension of the law that governs anti-terrorism surveillance, a change to the alternative minimum tax that is aimed at ensuring that all Americans pay at least some taxes, and finalizing a fiscal 2008 budget that isn’t loaded with “earmarks and pork-barrel spending.”
TechCrunch today added John McCain to its list of blogger “gets” in the Republican presidential field, interviewing the Arizona senator about the activities of technology firms in China and visas for high-skilled foreigners, among other topics.
The interview with McCain followed one several days ago with Mitt Romney, one of McCain’s rivals for the GOP nomination.
Jeff Jarvis of BuzzMachine sees TechCrunch’s series of interviews with presidential candidates as a noteworthy milestone for new media.
“It’s just a blog. It’s just a tech blog,” Jarvis said. “But it’s powerful and has an important audience in a critical industry. So candidates are paying attention. That and 10Questions and the YouTube debates are evidence of a political process that’s just beginning to open up.
Next on TechCrunch’s list is Democrat John Edwards, but he apparently agreed to only a written question-and-answer session with the tech Web site. How very 20th century of him.
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