Statement from Senator Patrick Leahy
Today's Republican circus trick: Legislating in the Dark
September 13, 2006, GreenMountainPAC.com
Today, the Republican-controlled Senate Judiciary Committee performed an amazing acrobatic feat: legislating in the dark. And like any other good circus trick, today's feat would have been entertaining to watch, too, if the issues being debated weren't so important.
Unfortunately, in a lock-step Republican vote, the Senate Judiciary Committee approved a bill that would grant President Bush permission to continue his warrantless domestic wiretap program, and in addition, immunize officials who have violated federal law by authorizing such illegal activities.
Believe it or not, their bill would even make the Administration's future compliance with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) entirely optional. It would transform the FISA from a check on abusive Executive authority into a black check to the White House.
At a time when the civil rights of American citizens are already being arrogantly abridged at almost every turn in the name of national security, this new legislation empowering President Bush to circumvent the time-tested FISA court process for authorizing domestic wiretaps is the last thing we need.
And the process that got us here is pure legislating in the dark. For months we have been asking for information about the National Security Agency's domestic spying activities. But Congress -- a co-equal branch of government on par with the Executive Branch -- has been stonewalled at every turn.
How many Americans have had their conversations wiretapped? How many terrorists have been identified who would otherwise have escaped detection? Why did the Bush-Cheney Administration choose not to comply with the FISA? Why did officials refuse to come to Congress for authorization? Are there other domestic spying activities being conducted behind Congress's back, outside of the law and without court approval?
We don't have the answers to any of these critical questions. So how can this Republican Congress cram legislation through the Judiciary Committee expanding the use of warrantless domestic wiretaps?
This is ludicrous. And it is short-sighted. And it is wrong.
As the elected representatives of the American people, Congress needs to fully understand the supposed problems that this new Republican bill is intended to address, and what the legislation would enable the government to do that it cannot do now. We also need to know the extent to which these changes would sacrifice Americans' liberties. We should not wait to find out what the legislation means until the President's inevitable signing statement, after it is passed.
In the absence of any other information, this Republican legislation is a solution in search of a problem. After all, the former presiding judge of the FISA court, Judge Royce Lamberth, said on May 8th that the President's warrantless wiretapping program would "require some tweaking" to make it comport fully with FISA -- the existing process for approving domestic surveillance. And a federal judge last month ruled that the Bush program is unconstitutional and illegal.
So instead of Congress amending FISA to clean up after the President -- something that we're doing completely in the dark -- President Bush should "tweak" his own domestic spying program to comply with existing federal law.
That's what I will continue fighting for in the Judiciary Committee and on the floor of the Senate. I hope you'll stand with me.
Sincerely,
Patrick Leahy
U.S. Senator