It has been an exciting and fascinating two days, yesterday and today. It has been the best and worst of American democracy in action. The thrill of victory in stopping the contemptible SSCI bill with telco immunity yesterday, and the defeat today in extending the similarly contemptible Protect America Act.
We just had a panel on economic issues, with Byron Dorgan, Chuck Schumer, and Sherrod Brown. It took until the last question–mine–for anyone to bring up the Bankruptcy Bill.
From these three Senators, there was little dispute: the Bankruptcy Bill was a bad bill and it needed to be fixed. There was also the recognition that the part of the bill that pertained to protecting houses had exacerbated the foreclosure crisis.
That’s
I’m at a schmoozy event at the Senate today–Harry Reid gave an opening speech focusing on the areas where progressive loud mouths have really helped out the Senate.
He spoke for a bit about FISA–repeating what he has said publicly (that if the Republicans won’t accept a PAA extension, then it will expire).
Jeff Sessions is helping the Administration evade the Presidential Records Act. That shouldn’t be a surprise, though, because Sessions and the Administration have been protecting each other for some time.
Did Hillary return because her colleagues asked her, or because her constituents asked her?
Bush says he wants a new FISA bill, and he wants it now.
The White House told Democratic congressional leaders Saturday that President Bush opposes a 30-day extension of an expiring eavesdropping law and instead wants an expanded version to be passed by Friday.
“The president would veto a 30-day extension,” a senior administration official said.
Keith Olbermann notes, with great dismay, that Michael Mukasey chose to hang a portrait of George Orwell in his office (the other portrait is Chief Justice Robert Jackson, which makes me quite happy). I’m willing to take Mukasey’s word that he admires Orwell for his writing (and his thoughts on language). Yet I don’t know how to square that with Mukasey’s endorsement of the Bradbury renomination.
I’m all for being more proactive about protecting our country from cyber-attack. But I get really uncomfortable when Bush signs off on such plans in secret, particularly when the details suggest the plan is inadequate and has too little oversight.
While Hillary and Obama were leaving the work of legislating to others, Chris Dodd stepped up to lay out the stakes for the FISA debate. Senators are not entitled to see their amendments pass. But they are entitled to this: a good-faith debate, honest criticism, and, ultimately, a vote. Last night, they didn’t get it.
Hillary’s call to seat MI’s and FL’s delegates is a reckless ploy that threatens to do real damage to the party. And as a MI voter, I’m incensed that she would suggest SHE gets to decide whether our delegates get seated.
