A while back -- a long while back -- I wrote to the Senator regarding her vote on the FISA bill, specifically with regard to telecom immunity (this following two previous letters to her wrt FISA issues. Her responses to those letters were weak. While relevant, that's not the issue here).
Finally, today, I get a response that leaves me not just underwhelmed, but kind of annoyed. I'm wondering now if she lied to me. Or at least tried to play me for a fool.
How? Well, let's see...
First, she explains that...
The Senate Intelligence Committee approved a bill on October 18th amending the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (FISA) by a vote of 13-2. That bill, among many provisions, would provide immunity for such companies if they were specifically requested or directed to provide assistance to the government.
The Intelligence Committee's report on the bill includes declassified text stating that the Executive branch provided letters to electronic communication service providers at regular intervals. These letters all directed or requested assistance and noted that the assistance was authorized by the President and was legal. The Committee's report can be found at http://intelligence.senate.gov/...
Fair enough, though it glosses over the fact that the President's request was blatantly illegal. Glenn Greenwald's written about this as well as anyone, so no need to rehash.
The dime drops in the next paragraph...
I voted for the FISA legislation that passed out of the Intelligence Committee by a bipartisan vote of 13-2. The Senate Judiciary Committee did not take action on the portions of the bill dealing with immunity. The bill is now scheduled to go to the Senate floor. I am keeping an open mind to whether some other legislative approach besides immunity would be best.
I'll preempt any snark and note that I don't think the lie is that she'll keep an open mind (well, it's not the big lie here, but it is most likely a lie).
No, she claims that the Judiciary Committee took no action on the immunity issue. Huh? Was I dreaming when I read this?
WASHINGTON, Nov. 15 — Reflecting the deep divisions within Congress over granting legal immunity to telephone companies for cooperating with the Bush administration’s program of wiretapping without warrants, the Senate Judiciary Committee approved a new domestic surveillance law on Thursday that sidestepped the issue.
By a 10 to 9 vote, the committee approved an overhaul of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act that dropped a key provision for immunity for telecommunications companies that another committee had already approved. The Senate leadership will have to decide how to deal with the immunity question on the Senate floor.
I mean it's clear that far from taking "no action", the Judiciary Committee deliberately excluded immunity from their bill because they saw that the Intel committee got it wrong. At least so said Sen. Feingold in a statement at the time, and so explained Christy Hardin Smith.
So...was it a lie or is my Senator trying to play me for an ignorant chump?