Real News Network: Obama's Vote for FISA Leads Supporters To Doubt His Promises
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 11, 2008
12:00 PM
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CONTACT: Real News Network
Nina Aghdasi, 416-916-5202
Email: smcommunications@therealnews.com |
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Democrats Lose On FISA
Obama's Vote for FISA Leads Supporters To Doubt His Promises
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WASHINGTON - July 11 - Fifteen months of heated debate in Congress came to an end on Thursday when the Foreign Intelligence Security Act (FISA) was signed into law by President Bush. The law that passed the senate on Wednesday by a vote of 69 to 28 included the controversial amendment that provided immunity for telecommunication companies that cooperated with the NSA's warrant-less wire-tapping program.
The FISA debate was especially bitter for Democrats, who were split on the issue. "In a Democrat-controlled Congress… We're about to grant immunity to companies that are alleged to have participated in the administration's lawlessness?" Democratic Senator Feingold, who leads a coalition with Senator Leahy against the bill, asked congress. The FISA bill has been heralded a triumph for the Bush administration and a serious loss for the Democratic Party, especially Senator Obama who during the full swing of the primary in January, vowed to filibuster any bill that included retroactive immunity for telecommunication companies.
Obama reneged on this promise, and instead voted in favor of FISA.
For Obama and others in the Democratic congressional leadership, this "does give them some protection if there is some kind of terrorist incident between now and the election," says Robert Parry, investigative journalist and editor of Consortium News. "While the senate leadership did vote in some cases against the bill, there was a general acceptance that the bill should pass."
This move by Obama has inspired outrage among his supporters, who had once strongly rallied against the bill. On July 3, Obama addressed their frustration in an open letter on his site and political blog The Huffington Post. Michael Ratner of the Center for Constitutional Rights takes issue with Obama's defense of his vote. "Some of the Democrats… have wrapped themselves in the so-called oversight provisions of the bill," he tells The Real News Network, "The problem is that this bill has huge holes, gaping holes, that allow warrant-less wiretapping with very little or no supervision, and that takes away the efficacy or usefulness of any of the so-called oversight provisions."
Watch the full story on The Real News Network: Obama's vote for FISA leads supporters to doubt his promises
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