Abu Wabu

UPDATED
President Bush today addressed the matter of Nancy Pelosi's refusal to put the FISA reform legislation to a House vote. Here is the text of his radio address:

Good morning. At the stroke of midnight tonight, a vital intelligence law that is helping protect our nation will expire. Congress had the power to prevent this from happening, but chose not to. The Senate passed a good bill that would have given our intelligence professionals the tools they need to keep us safe. But leaders in the House of Representatives blocked a House vote on the Senate bill, and then left on a 10-day recess. Some congressional leaders claim that this will not affect our security. They are wrong. Because Congress failed to act, it will be harder for our government to keep you safe from terrorist attack. At midnight, the Attorney General and the Director of National Intelligence will be stripped of their power to authorize new surveillance against terrorist threats abroad. This means that as terrorists change their tactics to avoid our surveillance, we may not have the tools we need to continue tracking them -- and we may lose a vital lead that could prevent an attack on America.

In addition, Congress has put intelligence activities at risk even when the terrorists don't change tactics. By failing to act, Congress has created a question about whether private sector companies who assist in our efforts to defend you from the terrorists could be sued for doing the right thing. Now, these companies will be increasingly reluctant to provide this vital cooperation, because of their uncertainty about the law and fear of being sued by class-action trial lawyers.

For six months, I urged Congress to take action to ensure this dangerous situation did not come to pass. I even signed a two-week extension of the existing law, because members of Congress said they would use that time to work out their differences. The Senate used this time productively -- and passed a good bill with a strong, bipartisan super-majority of 68 votes. Republicans and Democrats came together on legislation to ensure that we could effectively monitor those seeking to harm our people. And they voted to provide fair and just liability protection for companies that assisted in efforts to protect America after the attacks of 9/11.

The Senate sent this bill to the House for its approval. It was clear that if given a vote, the bill would have passed the House with a bipartisan majority. I made every effort to work with the House to secure passage of this law. I even offered to delay my trip to Africa if we could come together and enact a good bill. But House leaders refused to let the bill come to a vote. Instead, the House held partisan votes that do nothing to keep our country safer. House leaders chose politics over protecting the country -- and our country is at greater risk as a result.

House leaders have no excuse for this failure. They knew all along that this deadline was approaching, because they set it themselves. My administration will take every step within our power to minimize the damage caused by the House's irresponsible behavior. Yet it is still urgent that Congress act. The Senate has shown the way by approving a good, bipartisan bill. The House must pass that bill as soon as they return to Washington from their latest recess.

At this moment, somewhere in the world, terrorists are planning a new attack on America. And Congress has no higher responsibility than ensuring we have the tools to stop them. Thank you for listening.

The President did not address the real reason behind Pelosi's treachery: there are about forty lawsuits pending against telecom companies who assisted the government in tracking offshore enemy communications, and the new legislation would protect those companies from those lawsuits for work performed in the interest of national security. And it just so happens that Nancy Pelosi's friends and contributors in the plaintiffs' bar will lose millions if that should come to be.

In a severe rebuke to Pelosi, Senate Intelligence Committee chair Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) said this in support of the legislation:

Now, let me say something more. What people have to understand around here is that the quality of the intelligence we are going to be receiving is going to be degraded. It is going to be degraded. It is already going to be degraded as telecommunications companies lose interest. Everybody tosses that around and says: Well, what do you mean? I say: Well, what are they making out of this? What is the big payoff for the telephone companies? They get paid a lot of money? No. They get paid nothing. What do they get for this? They get $40 billion worth of suits, grief, trashing, but they do it. But they don't have to do it, because they do have shareholders to respond to, to answer to.

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell:

What will happen at midnight tonight is much more significant than stump speeches, steroids or superdelegates. On Sunday, the terrorist tracking program the Director of National Intelligence tells us has led "to the disruption of planned terrorist attacks" no longer will be fully operational because of Congressional inaction.

What is most distressing is that the terrorists haven’t ceased their activities, but we’ve conceded the capability to fully track them because the House Democrat Leadership blocked a vote on a bipartisan solution and then chose to close up shop and go home without completing their work.

This is not a political contest, it is a live-fire situation. What we do—or in this case, don’t do—has consequences for our national security. At midnight, the country will be more at risk than it is today. And that risk will increase each day we don't have a solution to this problem.”

UPDATE
In Nancy Pelosi Is Now On The Clock, Duane R. Patterson writes:

How can [Pelosi] have taken her eyes off the war on terror by tying the hands of our intelligence operatives? Partisan politics. Part of the patch on the FISA bill includes immunity from lawsuits against telecommunication companies that cooperate with the federal government on foreign surveillance. Nancy Pelosi acts as though her loyalites lie more with protecting the interests of the trial lawyer lobby than they do with the successful prosecution of the war on terror.

So if she wields the power as Speaker to scuttle a bill [and weaken] the country's defenses, as of Midnight last night, she and her Democratic Party must be held accountable for the consequences of that action. When the jihadists try to attack us again, as they have shown every indication that this is their fervent desire, it must be the Democrats that have to answer for why, in a time of war, they intentionally made our intelligence agencies' job harder.

Day one, Ms. Pelosi. How many free days are you willing to give the enemy a chance to plot, plan and organize against us before you allow all of your other colleagues in Congress the chance to do their job, and therefore, giving our intelligence community the tools to do their job?

Tick. Tick. Tick.

It's as if in Nancy Pelosi's mind September 11 never happened, so as a service to Nancy Pelosi, here's a timely reminder:



The next time you see something like this, it will have been brought to you in part by the Nancy Pelosi-led House Democrats, who should all be sent packing at the earliest constitutional opportunity for not immediately and openly challenging their so-called "leader" on her incredible affront to the American people.