House Republicans are maneuvering to force a vote on the Senate-passed version of the FISA Amendments Act of 2007. This is the Rockefeller version that includes telecom immunity - the version that House Democrats were able to fight off while passing their own bill without immunity.
From cnet news.com:
On Wednesday, a number of Republican leaders, including Lamar Smith (R-Texas), Peter Hoekstra (R-Mich.) and Peter King (R-N.Y.), began circulating what's known as a "discharge" petition, which they characterized as a "rare step." If they obtain 218 signatures from their colleagues, they say the Democratic leadership will be forced to schedule a vote on a version of the bill passed by the U.S. Senate in February that would likely wipe out pending lawsuits against AT&T and other phone companies accused of illegal cooperation with the National Security Agency.
That's right. The Republicans can force a vote on the "bad" bill in the house by way of a discharge petition. They just need a majority of signatures from House members.
How are the Republicans selling the telco-friendly Senate bill? From a statement from whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.):
"More than 66 days have passed since House Democrats allowed a key piece of terrorist surveillance legislation to expire--not because they had concerns with the bill, but because they were seemingly more concerned that not enough trial lawyers would be able to file enough expensive and frivolous lawsuits against U.S. telecom firms.
Don't stand for this bullshit. You know what to do. Please call your Representatives and urge them to NOT sign the discharge petition.