Senator Slaps Down FISA Telecom Immunity 206
cleetus writes "Today Senator Chris Dodd decided to put a hold on the FISA bill, one of the provisions of which would have granted immunity to any telecom which, if found to have acted in good faith, violated U.S. laws in turning over customer data to the government. According to TPM Election Central, "By doing this, Dodd can effectively hold up the telecom immunity bill, because bills are supposed to have unanimous consent in the Senate before going forward. One Senator can make it very difficult to bring a bill to the floor by objecting to allowing it to go to a vote." This throws a fairly big roadblock in front of this bill, covered by Slashdot earlier today."
looks like Reid might ignore the hold (Score:5, Interesting)
It is simply unfathomable to be why so many Democrats don't take a firm stand against NSA wiretapping, the Iraq war, etc. If they are principled, they would block it. If they only care about their political skins, they would still block Mr. 25% approval rating to make political points. Instead they buy shares in his messes by voting for them.
Re:Good as far as it goes (Score:2, Interesting)
Unfortunatly it it's not likely to stick because it doesn't look like he has Harry Reid. [tpmmuckraker.com]
yes, but basket warrants should be off too (Score:3, Interesting)
I'm not sure if so-called "basket" warrants made it into the Senate version or not. If so, they should go.
Re:Nice to know... (Score:3, Interesting)
He's got an interesting record. First votes for the Iraq War, then against it ever since. Voted against the Vitter Amendment [wikipedia.org] which, if I'm reading it right, says you cannot confiscate legally-owned firearms in a disaster area and leave the lawful inhabitants helpless. Wants marijuana decriminalised. Took lots of money from Enron, among others.
Not the greatest candidate in the race, but by far not the worst either. I'm wondering about his motivation here.