Congressional Visits—Make a Difference on Warrantless Wiretapping
During Congress’s annual Independence Day recess, you and your community allies have an opportunity to meet with your Representative and Senators in a local district office to demonstrate to them the groundswell of public outrage over warrantless wiretapping, a breach of fundamental governmental structure. We must take every opportunity to insist that Congress take on its role as the law-making and oversight branch of government.
If your representative or one or both of your senators is on the House or Senate Judiciary or Intelligence Committee (click to view members of the House Judiciary Committee, House Intelligence Committee, Senate Judiciary Committee, or Senate Intelligence Committee, below), it is particularly important for them to hear from constituents about the issue of NSA warrantless wiretapping. Having our phone calls potentially listened to by the government without any evidence of wrongdoing is just one of the dangerous outgrowths of having a president who refuses to stay within the confines of his role in a three-branch government. It is imperative that Congress re-establish itself as the law-making body of our government, so that we don't have a runaway executive making his own laws and ruling as a solitary government.
If you've already passed a resolution or organized in your community,
this is a good opportunity to reactivate the alliances you made as
you began your campaign—such as friendly city councilors, business,
church and other organizational allies, as well as prominent members
of the community who may be influential in a meeting with a Congressional
representative.
The Bill of Rights Defense Committee has some tools that can help:
- BORDC's workshop on buiding relationships with members of Congress recorded Thursday, June 29, 2006 with speakers Rebecca Raiser, legislative assistant to Congressman Bernie Sanders (I-VT); Corey Saylor, Government Affairs Director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR); and Nancy E. Young, a grassroots organizer for the New York City Bill of Rights Defense Campaign.
- Our 428-page book of civil liberties resolutions, organized by state, is a great leave-behind resource for congressional visits.
- We have talking points on the NSA warrantless wiretapping program and other resources on our web site.
But for now, it's important that voters in these key Congressional
districts do all they can to set up meetings with their representatives
or senators or learn where the town hall meetings will be held during
the July 4 recess and get as many members of the community as possible
to participate. Besides voting, this is another significant point
of access. Please join other Bill of Rights Defense groups around
the country in asserting our voices on the issue of NSA warrantless
wiretapping. Let us know when you’ve set up a meeting, so we
can post it on our web site.
And please let us know if we can provide assistance or support, or
if you just want to talk about how to proceed. Thanks for all you
do!