See other Dead Constitution Articles
Title: Moderate Republicans Propose Bill to Write Secretly Initiated Spy Program Into Law
Source:
Associated Press
URL Source: http://www.abcnews.go.com/Politics/print?id=1697505
Published: Mar 7, 2006
Author: Associated Press
Post Date: 2006-03-07 18:56:15 by Brian S
Keywords: Republicans, Initiated, Moderate
Views: 34
Comments: 3
WASHINGTON - Several moderate Senate Republicans are coalescing around legislation that would give President Bush's much-discussed domestic surveillance program the force of law, more than four years after the program was secretly initiated. The prospects for the draft legislation are far from certain. But Sen. Mike DeWine, R-Ohio, has support from at least three moderate Republicans who have helped shaped the debate on intelligence issues: Sens. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, Olympia Snowe of Maine and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. The growing call for legislation has put added pressure on the Bush administration, but the success of DeWine's proposal may depend on whether the president signs on. White House spokesman Scott McClellan said Tuesday that DeWine and others have proposed interesting ideas, but he reiterated that the president has all the authority he needs. Nevertheless, White House counsel Harriet Miers and others are working with senators on various proposals. "We've made a commitment to work with congressional leaders on legislation that would codify into law what the president's authority is," McClellan said. Lawmakers have a number of questions about the electronic surveillance. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter, R-Pa., threatened to write legislation to limit funding for the National Security Agency's program if he can't get more information about it. "If we cannot find some political solution to the disagreement with the executive branch, our ultimate power is the power of the purse," Specter said Tuesday. DeWine's bill would exempt the president's surveillance program from a 1978 law aimed at governing electronic intelligence collection inside the United States. A draft proposal, now being circulated on Capitol Hill, would allow the government to monitor suspected terrorists for up to 45 days without first seeking approval in a secretive federal intelligence court. Like the president's program, the bill covers only communications where one party is overseas and one is inside the United States. Another proposal from Specter would give the secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court the authority to give the program a broad constitutional blessing every 45 days. Specter has shared drafts of his proposal with senators, but his support remains unclear. The White House has said Bush acted lawfully when he ordered the warrantless surveillance because he had the inherent authority as president and under a September 2001 resolution to use force in the war on terror. Although initially reluctant to work with Congress on a bill, the White House has gradually come around in recent weeks as investigations were threatened. The Senate Intelligence Committee was meeting late Tuesday afternoon to discuss whether to open a full-scale investigation. The committee was also expected to consider whether to establish a small subcommittee which would have authority to oversee the highly classified program. If passed, DeWine's legislation would write into law exactly what that new subcommittee would do. It would also give the president the authority to create a list of terror organizations to be monitored. His bill does not require that the terror groups must be foreign. Nor does it rely on the State Department's Foreign Terrorist Organization list, which is often used in government as a reference about which organizations are considered most dangerous. When asked last week why he didn't use the State Department's list, DeWine said he wanted to give the president flexibility, particularly so he did not have to come to Congress to update the organizations that could be monitored. "You might have a terrorist group come up in six months that would be equally as bad as al-Qaida," DeWine said.
Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest
#1. To: Brian S (#0)
It can't legally be done without an amendment to the Constitution repealing the 4th. The GOP has now proven itself to be a lawless, criminal party on both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue.
Check out my blog, America, the Bushieful.
I agree 100% Bump those words
DC Address: The Honorable Mike DeWine United States Senate 140 Russell Senate Office Building Washington, D.C. 20510-3503 DC Phone: 202-224-2315 DC Fax: 202-224-6519 Email Address: http://dewine.senate.gov/reques t_form.cfm WWW Homepage: http://dewine.senate.gov/ Up for re-election 11-07-2006 Perhaps he should be reminded.
#2. To: Arator (#1)
The GOP has now proven itself to be a lawless, criminal party on both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue.
Hey, Meester,wanna meet my seester?
#3. To: Brian S (#0)
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest