Watch the house action live
here.
Trying live feed below.
UPDATE: The bill passed the house by a 251-174
vote. Please follow the discussion on this vote in this
diary, and the announcement by Sen. Reid to support a filibuster it in the senate in this
diary. Please keep up the action and post diaries as necessary. I will try to update the html code for watching the congress live and doing our best to get our voices heard. Thanks.
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| CURRENTLY ON...
Education Reform
Telecommunications Issues
Abortion Clinic Access Bill Signing |
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Please try these if you're having video problems (C-Span covers the house and C-Span2 covers the senate, usually. I'll try to make the video larger, but the html code for it is rather complex)
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Here is what I'd like to suggest the callers to ask their members of congress to do:
- filibuster and/or reject the the pending legislation (the "conference version")
- extend the current act for 3 months allowing for proper debate on the subject
- hold open floor debates on this vital piece of legislation, and enact a meaningful and balanced law.
- impose a 2 year sunset on the entire bill, so that it can be reviewed regularly.
Please see
here for the contact info for your members of congress.
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An Action Diary
Last Chance! UNPATRIOTIC Act vote tomorrow!
Tue Dec 13, 2005 at 09:14:10 PM PDT
FORGET SNARKING AT TROLLS OR BITCHIN ABOUT THE GOVERNMENT!
YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE IF YOU ACT NOW!
The vote is tomorrow and if you want to preserve the Bill of Rights and your constitutional protections guaranteed by the 2nd and 4th Constitutional Amendments, and ultimately your first Amendment rights as well... you need to Act. Much of the faux compromise makes some of the worst parts of the UNPATRIOTIC Act permanent.
The threat to democracy that the UNPATRIOTIC Act represents is unparalleled in US history and that is why it is opposed by both conservative and liberal political action groups alike.
Call Your Senators Now: Last Chance to Stop Sham Patriot Act Reauthorization Bill
Find your Senator:
http://www.senate.gov/
Find Your Representative:
http://www.house.gov/
Petitions:
Conservative groups calling for a filibuster of the UNPATRIOTIC Act:
Patriots to Restore Checks and Balances:
Certain sections of this controversial law are due to expire December 31, 2005. Until recently, it appeared that lawmakers were moving toward adopting the modest checks on federal power contained in the Senate reauthorization bill (S.1389), which would require a connection to a suspected terrorist to obtain Americans' records under Section 215 of the Patriot Act. This reflected a commonsense compromise that was widely praised as a step in the right direction by a bipartisan group of lawmakers, representatives of the business community, civil liberties groups and - most importantly - the American public. But then, at the eleventh hour and behind closed doors, some Patriot Act conferees bowed to pressure from the Administration and produced a completely unacceptable conference report. However, the conferees still have a chance to fix the problems in the report and adopt the Senate reforms.
http://hq.democracyinaction.org/...
Liberal groups calling for a filibuster against the UNPATRIOTIC Act:
ACLU:
Our Call Alert allows you to look up and call your members of Congress and helps us to track the outcome of the call. It also allows you to tell you friends about the alert to help generate even more calls.
To participate, simply follow these directions:
https://secure.aclu.org/site/Advocacy?alertId=339&pg=makeACall&JServSessionIdr004=guvjpfhuh1 .app23a
People For the American Way:
Emergency Petition to Filibuster the PATRIOT Act House and Senate negotiators have struck a deal on reauthorizing the USA PATRIOT Act, leaving many of the bill's worst provisions intact. Before leaving for recess, several senators were threatening to filibuster this legislation if it contained these provisions. Let's call on them to go all the way to fight for our civil liberties!
http://actions.pfaw.org/...
More Action items below.
From my diary yesterday:
What I think we should try to manage is this:
try and get the current pending resolution ("conference report") defeated or filibustered. then have the congress extend the existing law (which mostly expires in 12/31) by two to three months and hold open floor debates on a new version so that a sensible version of the the bill is enacted with citizen input and feedback. We should also ask for the entire bill to be have a 2 year sunset.
Here is a feasible congressional course of action. Please call your members of congress and ask them for the following:
- Ask your Representative to vote NO on the proposed measure (the Conference Report 109-333) in the house of representatives.
- Ask both of your senators to support a possible filibuster, and if that fails, to vote NO in the up or down vote on the resolution in the senate.
- Ask all three of them to pass an immediate resolution to extend the current law by 2 or 3 months as most of its provisions expire on 12/31. That would allow time for detailed discussion and debate on reauthorization in order to hammer out a more reasonable version.
- Tell them that you demand open floor debates on this vital piece of legislation that stands to compromise your civil and individual rights (in the name of security), and therefore you demand to know exactly what is being legislated on your behalf.
- Tell them that the entire law should have a sunset of two years as that would allow for periodic reevaluation of the act, for its effectiveness and necessity.
Links for Contacting Members of Congress: The links below provide comprehensive information on Members of Congress (website, phone, fax, address, and web-forms and/or email) based on your zip code:
In case you haven't done this before, here is a step-by-step guide:
- Set aside a notebook/notepad for this and future legislative activism purposes, if possible.
- Explore the links above and note down or bookmark the numbers, email addresses, webform URLs etc.
- You may also to visit this dKosopedia Election 2006 page later to assess the political dynamics involved.
- Call the offices of each of your members of congress (house representative first, as that vote will likely come first).
- Note down the name of the staff member you speak to.
- convey your thoughts, and jot down their feedback.
- Place followup calls if necessary.
- Send emails/webmails, faxes, as necessary.
- Sign the petition by People for the American Way (PFAW) emergency petition: link. Please see ACLU's letter to Congress for additional their talking points.