You're going to hear a lot today about how much the FISA Amendments Act have been improved from the last iteration coming from the Senate. That will be the cover for those who vote for this bill, even with Title II--the immunity provision--included.
But, about those "improvements," here's Kit Bond:
We believe that this new bill that we're considering, H.R. 6304, which passed the house with a strong majority vote of 293-129 last friday, should be passed here. As with the senate's original FISA bill passed several months ago, the compromise that is before us required a little give-and-take from all sides. But in essence what we have before us today is basically the Senate bill all over again.
I am aware of those that some on the far left want to paint this as some radical new legislation. But if you read the language, it's not different. the press picked up on this trait last week and kept asking me to help them find the purported big changes that no one could find. There really is not much that is significantly different, save some cosmetic fixes that were requested by the majority party in the house.
There's a potential fix to this bill, Bingaman's amendment that would delay the immunity until an IG's report is completed. That's the amendment that Mike and Mike say is poison pill that will result in a Bush veto. Because this amendment is subjected to a 60 vote rule, the chance that it will be passed is slim.
Thus, the final bill that Senate votes on tomorrow will probably be "basically the Senate bill all over again." The 29 Senators who voted against that Senate bill that has only received "cosmetic" fixes should vote against it again, and be joined by their colleagues Clinton and Obama, who didn't vote on it, in voting "no" on the final bill if that Bingaman amendment doesn't pass.
Does anyone really want a President McCain to have the expanded surveillance powers this bill confers? Or even a President Obama? Do these Democrats want to be responsible for dramatically weakening both their and the courts' power vis-a-vis the executive? That's what they're about to do.
Call them and tell them to vote for the Bingaman amendment and vote against final passage of the bill if Bingaman doesn't pass.