Phil Hare - Should the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) include immunity for telecom companies?

Hare among 29 in House opposing immunity

This letter to President Bush was signed by 29 House members:

We are writing to inform you that we will not support legislation reauthorizing the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act that grants retroactive legal immunity to telecommunications companies that cooperated with your Administration’s wiretapping program in violation of the Constitution and applicable federal law.

. . .We cannot be asked to immunize these actions before we know the full extent of what occurred. Retroactive immunity sets a dangerous precedent by placing companies that are legally required to respond only to legitimate government requests for assistance based on the issuance of valid legal instruments above the law.

Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT); Lynn Woolsey (D-CA); Barbara Lee (D-CA); Rosa DeLauro (D-CT); Raúl Grijalva; Tammy Baldwin (D-WI); Sheila Jackson-Lee (D-TX); Hank Johnson (D-GA); Jan Schakowsky (D-IL); Peter DeFazio (D-OR); Bob Filner (D-CA); Peter Welch (D-VT); Dennis Kucinich (D-OH); Linda Sánchez (D-CA); Fortney Pete Stark (D-CA); James McGovern (D-MA); Jesse Jackson, Jr.(D-IL); Jim McDermott (D-WA); Betty McCollum (D-MN); Maurice Hinchey (D-NY); Donald Payne (D-NJ); Luis Gutierrez (D-IL); Keith Ellison (D-MN); Danny Davis (D-IL); Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC); Phil Hare (D-OH); Barney Frank (D-MA); Melvin Watt (D-NC); Neil Abercrombie (D-HI).
 

Posted on 6/11/2008 5:14:02 PM by JZippApproved 6/21/2008 8:13 PM