July 18, 2010 :: staff :: 2 Comments
In his weekly address, Pres. Obama criticizes Republicans in the United States Senate who are obstructing passage of an emergency extension of unemployment and efforts designed to help steer capital to small business. “When storms strike Main Street, we don’t play politics with emergency aid,” he says. “We don’t desert our fellow Americans when they fall on hard times. We come together and do what we can to help. We rebuild stronger and we move forward.”
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July 3, 2010 :: Eva Scherson :: Comments Off
Sen. Olympia Snowe, Republican of Maine, is known for being a moderate, a pragmatist, and often the key to determining what gets done in a hotly divided partisan environment. She has consistently sought to take responsible positions on environmental policy, but has supported her party in many key votes. Now, she is pledging to push for a broader coalition of support for a scaled-back climate bill. Her approach is being called “utility-only”, focusing carbon emissions capping on power generation utilities, something supporters say will make the pending legislation more viable economically and administratively.
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June 29, 2010 :: J.E. Robertson :: Comments Off
Between June 21 and 25, Citizens Climate Lobby took its message to Capitol Hill, meeting with 52 different members of Congress, or their energy and climate staff, in both the House and the Senate. The first CCL national conference was fortuitously timed, as the ongoing disaster in the Gulf of Mexico has brought into stark relief the nature of the carbon-fuel problem and the urgent need for action to achieve a civilization-wide overhaul of energy infrastructure, and the climate bill pending in the Senate may not have the votes to override a filibuster.
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January 23, 2010 :: Webb Tisch :: One Comment
The Republican party is jubilant about the victory of state Senator Scott Brown, in the race to take over the United States Senate seat held for nearly half a century by the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA). And they should be jubilant. Kennedy was in many ways the de facto leader of the Democratic party for much of that time, and his untiring defense of liberal principles of social justice and economic fairness were a thorn in the side of Republicans throughout. But the odd thing is that suddenly, the Republicans are arguing that where goes Massachusetts, so goes the nation. Are they kidding?
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December 21, 2009 :: J.E. Robertson :: Comments Off
The United States Senate has been grappling all this year with a record number of threatened filibusters of key legislation, a problem which has held up work on issues of vital national interest and slowed economic reforms designed to help speed recovery and prevent future abuses. The healthcare reform process is now synonymous with the worst effects of the filibuster, famously used by the late Sen. Strom Thurmond to block civil rights reforms that would bring the law in line with the US Constitution.
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December 20, 2009 :: staff :: Comments Off
The Democratic leadership has scheduled an historic vote on healthcare reform legislation for 1:01 am Monday morning. All 100 senators are expected to participate in the vote for cloture, which would end debate and clear the way for a straight up-or-down vote on passage of the comprehensive health insurance reform package, later this week. The bill has been the subject of intense negotiation, fierce criticism and major compromise, though all of the compromise was within the ideologically diverse 60-member Democratic caucus.
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December 19, 2009 :: staff :: Comments Off
The last time a Patient’s Bill of Rights was within reach was roughly a decade ago, and it was supported by Democrats and Republicans alike, from Ted Kennedy to John McCain. It included the right to an appeals process so you could challenge an unfair decision by an insurance company before a third party. It included the right to choose your own doctor. It included the right to access information about what your health insurance plan means for you. And it called for a new level of transparency so that patients would know if their doctors had a conflict of interest when providing services.
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December 19, 2009 :: staff :: Comments Off
After nearly a full year of partisan wrangling and internecine disputes between liberal and conservative Democrats, the sponsors of healthcare reform have reportedly secured their 60th vote in the Senate, the vote needed to break a filibuster, end debate and bring the bill to a vote for passage. Once the public option for low-cost healthcare and an expansion of Medicare were stripped from the bill, Sen. Lieberman (I-CT) signed on; progressive Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) then threatened to withhold support, but agreed to support the measure once $10 billion were set aside for community health clinics, and now, Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE), the last holdout, has reportedly voiced his support for the reforms.
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December 9, 2009 :: staff :: Comments Off
Democrats in the United States Senate, in hopes of reaching a compromise on health reform legislation, are reported to be considering a plan that would scrap the so-called “public option” for low-cost, full-coverage health insurance, in favor of a non-profit plan that would be run by the private insurers themselves, but regulated through the Office of Personnel Management.
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November 21, 2009 :: staff :: Comments Off
Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) has announced she will vote to support cloture, which will allow debate to move forward in the Senate on healthcare insurance reform legislation. Lincoln joins other conservative Democrats, Mary Landrieu, of Louisiana, and Ben Nelson, of Nebraska, in supporting her party leadership’s call for a vote to begin debate on the healthcare insurance reform legislation.
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November 9, 2009 :: Webb Tisch :: Comments Off
The progressive organizing group MoveOn.org has announced huge success in collecting funds to mount primary challenges to any Democratic senator who acts to block an up-or-down vote on healthcare reform. In just one week, their Health Reform Accountability Pledge campaign collected $3,578,117 in pledges. The organization’s statement about the fundraising success reads: That’s how much [...]
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September 24, 2009 :: staff :: One Comment
The legislature of the state of Massachusetts has voted to grant Gov. Deval Patrick (D) the power to appoint an interim replacement for the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D). The move means the Democratic party will see its fragile 60-vote majority in the United States Senate restored, in time for crucial votes on healthcare reform this fall. Today, Gov. Patrick has named Paul Grattan Kirk, Jr. to the interim post.
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September 17, 2009 :: J.E. Robertson :: Comments Off
The Senate finance committee’s version of healthcare reform, the America’s Healthy Future Act of 2009, has finally been released, and while opposed by both the conservative base and Democratic progressives, is being praised for cost-effectiveness and for achieving important reform goals. The Congressional Budget Office says it would save $49 billion over 10 years and would not add to the federal deficit.
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September 4, 2009 :: Webb Tisch :: Comments Off
In an interview with the McAlester News-Capital newspaper, Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK) —the senior senator from his state— strung together one lie after another, in an apparent effort to slander Pres. Obama and derail healthcare reform. There are no softer words for Inhofe’s incessant lies and fabrications. He has apparently pledged his time and energy to the hard labor of being an inveterate and unapologetic professional slanderer.
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August 31, 2009 :: staff :: Comments Off
The governor of Massachusetts, Deval Patrick, has announced he will work with lawmakers to arrange for an interim appointment to replace the late Sen. Ted Kennedy, until the special election, now scheduled for 19 January 2010, allows voters to choose a senator to complete the last three years of his current 6-year term. The announcement paves the way for negotiations with state lawmakers about how to appoint a “caretaker”, and who should get the appointment.
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August 31, 2009 :: staff :: 2 Comments
Deval Patrick, the Democratic governor of Massachusetts, is now “coming out strongly in favor of the idea” of naming an interim replacement for the late Sen. Kennedy, at Sen. Kennedy’s request, to avoid leaving his state with a vacancy in the Senate for several months, as reported by the New York Times. After initial skepticism, there are now reports suggesting state lawmakers may be leaning toward supporting such a move.
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August 20, 2009 :: staff :: One Comment
Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-MA), popularly known as the “Lion of the Senate”, who has served 47 years in the upper house of the US Congress, is battling an aggressive brain cancer, and has been relegated to a long absence, even as the nation debates the issue that has most consumed his efforts as a legislator. Healthcare reform has been Ted Kennedy’s primordial concern throughout his time in the Senate, and it has never been closer, but at a time he is needed on Capitol Hill, he is sidelined by gravely ill health.
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August 6, 2009 :: staff :: One Comment
Federal Appeals Court Judge Sonia Sotomayor was confirmed today by the US Senate as the 111th justice to sit on the US Supreme Court. She joins the 8 other justices currently in service to ensure a complete 9-member Court for the opening of the next session in October. Justice Sotomayor will be only the 3rd woman to hold a position on the Supreme Court and has made history as the 1st person of Hispanic ethnicity to win confirmation.
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August 6, 2009 :: staff :: Comments Off
The full United States Senate will vote on the confirmation of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court. She would fill the vacant 9th spot on the Court and become the 3rd woman to serve, making two at present. Her nomination has been closely followed due to Republican opposition to some past policy statements and due to her possibility of becoming the first justice of Hispanic ethnicity in the Court’s long history. Democratic senators rallied behind the nominee in the days leading up to the vote, challenging Republican opponents, calling their opposition bias and suggesting they are ignoring her qualifications for partisan reasons.
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July 24, 2009 :: J.E. Robertson :: Comments Off
Pres. Obama used his prime-time press conference last night to dive straight into the fray on healthcare reform, pledging commitment to bold action, demanding cost-cutting measures and promising to bring affordable coverage within reach of all Americans. He did not specify if he wanted an “individual mandate” that all Americans buy into one plan or another, and he did not promise that no insurer would be allowed to deny treatment under any circumstances.
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July 22, 2009 :: J.E. Robertson :: 7 Comments
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) reported last week that the healthcare plan currently being debated in Congress would likely cause federal expenses related to healthcare to increase. But it did not report that the plan would cause average per-patient costs to increase across the entire healthcare market, as opponents of healthcare reform are alleging. In fact, that philosophical point has not been disproven by any budgetary analysis to date.
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July 17, 2009 :: staff :: Comments Off
A Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report that calls into question whether plans now under debate in Congress would achieve the cost-effectiveness Pres. Obama seeks has 6 senators saying they want the reform process to “slow down”. They seek a “budget-neutral” plan, as called for by the president. Obama does not want to slow down the process, argues that the administration has already located savings to pay for reform over 10 years, and is opposed to conservative Democratic senators’ desire to tax healthcare benefits to raise revenues.
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July 14, 2009 :: J.E. Robertson :: 2 Comments
Yesterday saw the opening of confirmation hearings for Judge Sonia Sotomayor, before the Senate Judiciary committee. Several conservative Republicans questioned her objectivity and pronounced their devotion to the rule of law and equality for all litigants. The mainstream position seemed to be that Sotomayor would be able to explain controversial remarks, which were made in the context of her own study of any jurist’s moral obligation to transcend personal experience and make unbiased judgments.
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July 11, 2009 :: staff :: Comments Off
Former US vice president Dick Cheney has been linked to the 8-year long cover-up of a secret CIA project about which Congress was never briefed, until last month. The current director of the CIA, Leon Panetta, only learned of the secret project —details of which have still not been released— last month. He immediately ordered its closure. Now, it has been revealed that in a closed-door briefing last month with members of Congress, Panetta revealed that former vice-president Cheney ordered the project be concealed from Congress.
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July 8, 2009 :: staff :: 4 Comments
Vice-president Joe Biden has announced a “deal” with US hospitals that would save the US government $155 billion over ten years, a significant portion of the projected costs of healthcare reform that would universalize healthcare insurance coverage. The savings would come from reduced charges for Medicare and Medicaid patients, which hospitals would be able to allow for because universalizing coverage would reduce their own costs related to treating uninsured patients.
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July 7, 2009 :: J.E. Robertson :: Comments Off
In Senator-elect Al Franken’s debut on Capitol Hill, he explained that he sees himself not as the 60th vote for the Democratic majority but as the 2nd senator from the state of Minnesota. He added that “Minnesotans are practical people” and explained why “rational” healthcare, that is available and affordable for all Americans must be a priority, why jobs and an economy that works for working people will be part of his agenda. Franken concluded, saying: “I am going to work day and night to make sure that our kids have a great future and that America’s best days lay ahead. I’m ready to get to work.”
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June 30, 2009 :: J.E. Robertson :: One Comment
Democratic-Farmer-Labor challenger Al Franken has been declared the winner of the Minnesota race for US Senate, in the November 2008 election. The Minnesota Supreme Court ruled today that Franken was the winner, after a properly conducted recount. Norm Coleman, who had brought the election contest in the state courts, conceded defeat shortly after the ruling was announced, saying “We have reached the point where further litigation damages the unity of our state”.
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June 29, 2009 :: staff :: One Comment
Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty said on Sunday he would certify Al Franken as winner of the November 2008 US Senate race, if the Supreme Court of his state orders it. He told CNN that he would sign the certification as soon as the court gives him the “green light” and that he would not delay Franken’s certification just to facilitate a federal appeals process.
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June 23, 2009 :: J.E. Robertson :: 3 Comments
When hearings were held to decide the outcome of the protracted Minnesota Senate race, Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ), chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, released a statement predicting that Al Franken, US Senate candidate for the Democratic Farmer Labor party (Minnesota’s branch of the national Democratic party), would soon prevail. More than 3 weeks later, there are questions as to what is stalling the delivery of a verdict that would seat the nation’s 100th senator.
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June 19, 2009 :: Webb Tisch :: 4 Comments
This is not news, but it’s worth repeating: Sen. John Cornyn, of Texas, has in the past suggested that the Republican challenge to Minnesota’s seating Al Franken as its junior senator could last for “years”. Coleman has challenged every single court ruling so far, despite losing every one of them and losing more ground in the vote-count with each examination of new votes. The last court to rule found that there was no evidence of any legitimate votes still uncounted, and ordered that Franken be certified the winner and Coleman pay court costs.
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June 18, 2009 :: Denver Lessing :: 3 Comments
The state of Minnesota, and of course the netroots, are in a flurry of speculation today that the Minnesota Supreme Court may be preparing to hand down a ruling in the election contest between Norm Coleman and Al Franken. There is no news from the Court confirming the speculation that a verdict is imminent, but the hearing was more than two weeks ago, and Minnesota has been without its 2nd senator since January.
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June 17, 2009 :: staff :: 4 Comments
The Energy and Natural Resources committee of the US Senate voted 15 to 8 today to approve a comprehensive energy bill. The legislation, if passed by the Congress and signed into law by Pres. Obama would require that a minimum of 15% of all US electric power be generated from renewable resources, such as wind and solar power.
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June 10, 2009 :: J.E. Robertson :: 4 Comments
Norm Coleman, incumbent senator for Minnesota until 3 January 2009, is gambling his political future on the likelihood the Minnesota Supreme Court will rule to allow the inclusion of absentee ballots ruled inadmissible by state officials and by every court venue to date, the counting of which he expects will overturn Al Franken’s narrow lead. Experts are saying the hearing before the court suggests Coleman has little chance of success.
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June 2, 2009 :: staff :: Comments Off
This issue, health care reform, is not a luxury. It’s not something that I want to do because of campaign promises or politics. This is a necessity. This is something that has to be done. We cannot avoid bringing about change in our health care system. Soaring health care costs are unsustainable for families, they are unsustainable for businesses, and they are unsustainable for governments, both at the federal, state and local levels.
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May 27, 2009 :: J.E. Robertson :: 4 Comments
In 2001, Sonia Sotomayor delivered a speech to the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law, entitled “A Latina Judge’s Voice”. It was published in the Spring 2002 issue of Berkeley La Raza Law Journal, and has been reproduced by The New York Times this month online. A quote taken from that speech has raised controversy, as conservatives alleged Sotomayor declared her willingness to use race as a means of judging the law. In fact, she argued against that sort of bias.
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May 27, 2009 :: staff :: Comments Off
ALITO: Because when a case comes before me involving, let’s say, someone who is an immigrant — and we get an awful lot of immigration cases and naturalization cases — I can’t help but think of my own ancestors, because it wasn’t that long ago when they were in that position.
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May 15, 2009 :: staff :: Comments Off
Norm Coleman, who is still locked in a long and hotly contested recount and lawsuit process for the 2008 Minnesota race for the US Senate, has become involved in an FBI investigation into the dealings of a “longtime benefactor”, Nasser Kazeminy. Kazeminy is being investigated for fraud in relation to his management of a company called Deep Marine Technology.
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April 29, 2009 :: staff :: One Comment
The Congressional negotiation on the budget for fiscal year 2010 has worked out a $3.44 trillion budget proposal that features many of Pres. Obama’s highest-priority initiatives. Healthcare reform will be included as part of the standard budget, meaning that votes on healthcare reforms can pass the Senate with a simple majority, i.e. 50 votes plus the Democratic VP Joe Biden. The agreed budget resolution would cut the budget deficit even in the first year by more than expected.
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April 28, 2009 :: staff :: 2 Comments
Progressives are pledging to contribute $1 per day to a political action fund until Republican Norm Coleman concedes defeat in the 2008 Minnesota senate race against Al Franken. Franken has been found to be the winner after every stage of recount and judicial review, and was ruled to be the winner by unanimous decision of a three-judge panel earlier this month.
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April 28, 2009 :: staff :: 2 Comments
Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA), one of the most senior Republicans in the US Senate is switching to the Democratic party. The Democrats will now have an effective majority of 59-40, and can achieve the coveted 60-vote supermajority that can break any Republican filibuster, if Al Franken is seated as the junior senator from Minnesota. Specter was facing a determined challenge from the conservative side of his state Republican party.
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April 24, 2009 :: J.E. Robertson :: 3 Comments
The Minnesota Supreme Court has agreed to hear Norm Coleman’s appeal of the ruling in which a 3-judge panel ordered the state to certify Al Franken as the winner in the November 2008 election. The date set for that hearing is 1 June 2009, meaning Minnesota may continue without its 2nd senator for another 5 weeks. Coleman had been ordered to pay court costs and the ruling had been issued not only unanimously, but “with prejudice”. The Republican governor of the state has not yet acceded to the Court’s order.
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January 15, 2009 :: staff :: Comments Off
Always, and especially in the crucible of these global challenges, our overriding duty is to protect and advance America’s security, interests and values: First, we must keep our people, our nation and our allies secure. Second, we must promote economic growth and shared prosperity at home and abroad. Finally, we must strengthen America’s position of global leadership — ensuring that we remain a positive force in the world, whether in working to preserve the health of our planet or expanding dignity and opportunity for people on the margins whose progress and prosperity will add to our own.
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January 6, 2009 :: J.E. Robertson :: 3 Comments
In a dramatic scene in the heart of the nation’s capital, Roland Burris, the former Attorney General of the state of Illinois, recently named by embattled Gov. Rod Blagojevich, attempted to enter the Senate chamber to be sworn in and was blocked from entering, on a technicality related to his “paperwork” (his credentials were not signed by the Illinois secretary of state, for which there is no Constitutional requirement). The Minnesota seat that belongs to either Al Franken or Norm Coleman also remains unfilled, due to ongoing challenges.
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December 14, 2008 :: J.E. Robertson :: One Comment
A hard core of Republican senators demanded ideological concessions from autoworkers, blaming the front-line manufacturing workers —whom John McCain and his running mate, Sarah Palin, repeatedly called “the best in the world” during their campaign for the White House— for America’s embattled automakers’ financial hardships. The bloc included all 8 senators from the states of Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia, where foreign automakers, like Toyota and Hyundai, have spent billions to build factories that have led to the creation of thousands of jobs in those states.
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December 12, 2008 :: Webb Tisch :: Comments Off
After the $14 billion bridge-loan legislation failed in the US Senate, the White House faced the prospect of a major economic tipping point, should one or two of the three big Detroit automakers go into bankruptcy. In order to prevent an auto-industry collapse from sending the US economy into free-fall, the US Treasury has announced it will use some of the $700 billion allocated for rescuing struggling US banks to make a “bridge loan” that will tide the automakers over at least until early 2009.
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November 17, 2008 :: staff :: 4 Comments
In Alaska, 7-count convicted felon Sen. Ted Stevens had narrowly led Anchorage mayor Mark Begich, but counting of early-cast paper ballots and absentee votes has favored Begich, a Democrat in a Republican-controlled state, and Begich is now favored to win. Georgia Republican incumbent Saxby Chambliss is now facing a heated runoff, in which more campaign cash is being spent than in the first round and John McCain has taken to the campaign trail. In Minnesota, author and radio-host Al Franken trails Republican incumbent Norm Coleman by just 200 votes, the count ongoing.
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July 30, 2008 :: staff :: Comments Off
The longest serving Republican member of the US Senate, Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK), called by some the “king of pork” for his success in bringing federal money to his state, has been indicted for not reporting, under penalty of perjury, gifts he received from at least one oil firm, totaling as much as $250,000. The gifts are allegedly related to a home-renovation project and assistance obtained through his connection to an oil firm.
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July 11, 2008 :: J.E. Robertson :: Comments Off
President George W. Bush yesterday signed an update to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) into law, after the Senate passed the controversial legislation, giving telecommunications firms retroactive immunity for cooperating with warrantless wiretapping conducted on American citizens, with no foundation in US law and in direct violation of the original FISA law, and the US Constitution. A federal court had ruled that the warrantless wiretaps violated the US Constitution, prompting a move by Pres. Bush and his allies in Congress to pass a new law correcting the legal problem.
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