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Congress has a lousy approval rating and the President’s is nothing to write home about either. In a previous post outlining Senator Harry Reid’s comments about passage of S.1927 and the failed S.2011 it was noted Mr Reid was blaming the GOP for failure of his preferred bill, S.2011. Similarly, in the press release below, House Minority Leader Boehner is taking credit and lauding Republican efforts for the passage of S.1927 in the House.

While Harry Reid blamed the GOP for failure of S.2011 rather than Dems defecting from his wishes, John Boehner is guilty of a partisan slant and a failure to overcome the low approval of Congress by finding ways to get things done in a manner that would raise the opinion of the public for both parties. Mr Boehner’s press release is offered below.

Boehner: Republicans Succeed in Forcing Democrats to Close Terrorist Loophole and Fix FISA

Washington, Aug 4 - Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) today praised House passage of legislation to close the terrorist loophole and modernize the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) after Democratic leaders had delayed this critical measure for months. The bill is modeled on legislation from Reps. Pete Hoekstra (R-MI) and Heather Wilson (R-NM), and after bipartisan Senate passage last night will now be sent to the President’s desk for his signature. Boehner issued the following statement:

“After months of prodding by House Republicans, Congress has finally closed the terrorist loophole in our surveillance laws – and America will be the safer for it. But the delay in action is a serious indictment of this Democratic majority and calls into question their commitment and ability to solve critical national security issues in a timely manner. There is no excuse for holding up this critical measure until the final hours of the final legislative day before a month-long break. The Democrats’ delays have endangered our national security and cost our intelligence agencies critical information, and I hope every Democrat is asked in the weeks ahead: ‘why did you wait so long to close the terrorist loophole?’

“It’s important to remember that this only represents a temporary fix for 180 days. Republicans will fight to make this solution permanent as well as protect private parties who may have assisted the United States government keep Americans safe from frivolous lawsuits.

“The real heroes of this effort were Reps. Hoekstra and Wilson who were relentless in alerting the country – and negligent Democrats – to the dangers posed by outdated laws that hamstrung our intelligence gathering capabilities. I thank them both for their diligence and commitment to protecting America from the persistent threat of terrorism.”

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There is a lot of political nonsense in the press release above and there was equal nonsense from the Dems. The situation changed shortly after these votes and the follow up work before the February expiration of the sunset date on S.1927 has run into a couple of new wrinkles. First there was a press release featuring Harry Reid’s plans for the next round. An excerpt is offered below with a link. You can guess what Reid has in the letter to Rockefeller and Leahy but if you must, follow the link.

August 14, 2007
Reid: Senate Will Explore Long-Term Fixes To FISA In September

Washington, D.C.—Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid sent the following letter today to Senators Jay Rockefeller and Pat Leahy, encouraging them to develop long-term modernizations to FISA that better serve our national security interests than the law signed by President Bush this month:

It is understandable that Congress would be interested in working with the White House on matters related to FISA. With hundreds of members in Congress and all the committees, subcommittees, commisison and other groups assembled and the FISA court and DOJ, it would seem there are already adequate arrangements for properly handling problems that may arise.

The nature of the work in gathering intelligence seems to be at odds with very open debate and discussion. We should be able to trust a limited number of elected an appointed officials to quietly manage these matters. If we cannot than there is more wrong than any questions about right or wrong concerning surveillance. While protecting the rights of all citizens it seems we sometimes provlde no better assurance for Americans while presenting those who would attack us with more help accomplishing their goals. The balance necessary again requires some trust in those we depend on in many ways to do the right thing when it really counts. Not unlike the balance between rights and responsibilities, a delicate balance between protecting the country and individual protections is daunting task and obligation. Are we demanding too much of government? Are we disallowing the tools they need to defend the country? Are we being fooled by either side of the argument or both?

These questions may or may not be answered. But the next post deals with the entrance of the ACLU into the fray. There is a good chance there entry has nothing to do with anything discussed thus far. Stay tuned.

Stanford Matthews
MoreWhat.com

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 22nd, 2007 at 12:19 pm and is filed under Public Affairs, Bush, Terrorism, wordpress, Politics, Reid, Congress, Legislation. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.