House Speaker Jeff Merkley urges fillbuster on spying law

On Monday President Bush’s State of the Union addressed the issue of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Below is a Press Release from Rep. Jeff Merkley 1-24-08 on the subject:

Right now, the U.S. Senate is debating the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, also known as FISA. Sign the petition now to support the filibuster of this extremely bad legislation.

Under FISA, telecommunications companies turned over the records of millions of American citizens. These records were released with no warrants and no judicial oversight. Only President Bush, his closest advisors and the telecommunications companies know the extent of this warrant less surveillance.

Now, the Bush Administration and some members of Congress are pushing a new FISA bill that would provide legal amnesty for those companies that turned over records. This amnesty for telecom companies would shield them from any legal accountability for these actions.

Please sign the petition to support a filibuster of the new version of the FISA bill, which provides legal cover for telecom companies that turned over the records of so many American citizens.

Senator Chris Dodd of Connecticut is considering a filibuster of the FISA bill. Please join me in asking Senator Gordon Smith and Senator Ron Wyden to support the Dodd filibuster. Sign the petition now that I’m sending to Oregon’s senators on this extremely important issue.

Congress must stand up and protect the rights of American citizens. They must restore the balance of power by returning oversight to the judiciary. The courts, not Congress, should decide what is legal.

For Oregon,