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 gives his annual State of the Union address Monday and today offered his radio audience a glimpse into the priorities he will discuss in the speech.
Those priorities are economic growth and national security. Here are excerpts of Bush’s radio address:
“You should know that while economic growth has slowed in recent months, the foundation for long-term growth remains solid. And I believe that with swift action, we can give our economy the boost it needs to continue expanding and creating new jobs for our citizens.”
“In August, Congress passed a bill that strengthened our ability to monitor terrorist communications. The problem is that Congress set this law to expire on February 1st. That is next Friday. If this law expires, it will become harder to figure out what our enemies are doing to infiltrate our country, harder for us to uncover terrorist plots, and harder to prevent attacks on the American people.”
In this week’s Democratic address, Sen. Byron Dorgan of North Dakota emphasized efforts to boost the economy but also suggested a negative link between economic woes and national security. While praising bipartisan work by Congress and Bush to aid the economy, he also took partisan shots at Bush.
“President Bush has given us a fiscal policy that has piled up mountains of debt by insisting we fight the war in Iraq with borrowed money,” Dorgan said. “Even as his policies have escalated this unbelievable federal debt load, he continues to insist on giving more tax breaks to the super wealthy. Now, the American people know that doesn’t add up. That has to change.”
President Bush dedicated his post-Thanksgiving weekly radio address to remembering patriots both past and present — the Pilgrims who discovered America and modern-day military men like Navy SEAL Michael Murphy, who died in Afghanistan in 2005 to save his fellow-countrymen.
Bush also praised emergency responders and “faith-based and community volunteers.” He ended the address with what some Americans would consider politically incorrect thanks to God. “We are grateful to the Author of Life who blessed our nation’s first days, who strengthened America in times of trial and war, and who watches over us today.”
Democrats chose retired Army Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, at one time the top U.S. commander of troops in Iraq, to speak for them this week, once again attacking the Bush administration’s policies in Iraq.
“Although we cannot withdraw precipitously from Iraq,” Sanchez said, “we must move rapidly to minimize our force presence. Shifting the primary mission of our troops away from combat will lead to a smaller U.S. military presence, and a greater obligation on the part of the Iraqis to take the lead in solving their country’s problems.”
The Senate on Thursday voted to confirm former federal judge Michael Mukasey as the next attorney general but not without a pointed debate about his qualifications. The final vote was 53-40.
Courtesy of CapNews.Net, here are excerpts of the debate from: Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.; Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.; Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt.; and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.
Subscribe to RSS