Democratic senator will introduce censure motion of Bush

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[Zepps_News] Democratic senator will introduce censure motion

of Bush

 

 

http://rawstory.com/news/2006/Democratic_senator_will_introduce_censure_motion_0\

312.html

 

*Democratic senator will introduce censure motion of Bush*

 

*RAW STORY <http://rawstory.com>*

Published: March 12, 2006

 

 

This <http://rawstory.com/email_story.php?sid=2058>

 

Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI), speaking on ABC's " This Week, " declared

that he will introduce a censure motion against President George W.

Bush over the President's warrantless wiretapping program.

 

" He's going to introduce a censure motion tomorrow, " Feingold

spokesman Trevor Miller told RAW STORY <http://rawstory.com> Sunday.

The video is now available here

<http://thinkprogress.org/2006/03/12/feingold-censure/>.

 

Asked by George Stephanopoulos why he wasn't proposing impeachment,

Feingold said he wanted to do " what's best for the country. "

 

 

 

 

Feingold says Congress needs to stand up to the President. He declared

that martial law wasn't declared on Sept. 11, 2001.

 

Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) introduced a censure motion against President

Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney earlier this year. The move

received scant attention at the time.

 

President Bush, meanwhile, plans to outline his case for Iraq Monday.

 

" This month will mark the three-year anniversary of the start of

Operation Iraqi Freedom, which liberated Iraq from the tyranny of

Saddam Hussein, " Bush said in his Saturday radio address. " As this

milestone approaches, I will be giving a series of speeches to update

the American people on our strategy for victory in Iraq. I will

discuss the progress we are making, the lessons we've learned from our

experiences, and how we're fixing what has not worked. "

 

" On Monday, I will give the first of these speeches, focusing on the

security element of our strategy: the task of defeating the terrorists

and training Iraqi security forces so they can take the lead in the

fight and defend their own democracy. "

 

RAW STORY <http://rawstory.com> will post the Feingold transcript when

it moves later today.

 

 

 

 

MORE FROM FEINGOLDS OFFICE:

 

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Russ Feingold has announced that he

will introduce a resolution in the U.S. Senate on Monday to censure

the President of the United States. Feingold's resolution condemns the

President's actions in authorizing the illegal wiretapping program and

then misleading the country about the existence and legality of the

program. Feingold calls the resolution an appropriate and responsible

step for Congress to take in response to the President's undermining

of the separation of powers and ignoring the rule of law.

 

" The President must be held accountable for authorizing a program that

clearly violates the law and then misleading the country about its

existence and its legality, " Feingold said. " The President's actions,

as well as his misleading statements to both Congress and the public

about the program, demand a serious response. If Congress does not

censure the President, we will be tacitly condoning his actions, and

undermining both the separation of powers and the rule of law. "

 

The President's illegal wiretapping program is in direct violation of

the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). The FISA law makes

it a crime to wiretap Americans in the United States without a warrant

or a court order. The Bush Administration has obtained thousands of

FISA warrants since September 11th and has almost never been rejected

by the FISA court. FISA even allows wiretaps to be executed

immediately in an emergency as long as the government obtains a

warrant within 72 hours.

 

" This issue is not about whether the government should be wiretapping

terrorists – of course it should, and it can under current law "

Feingold said. " But this President and this administration decided to

break the law and they have yet to give a convincing explanation of

why their actions were necessary, appropriate, or legal. Passing more

laws will not change the fact that the President broke the ones

already in place and for that, Congress must hold him accountable. "

 

 

#

 

Fact Sheet From U.S. Senator Russ Feingold On His Resolution to

Censure the President

 

Senator Feingold's resolution of censure condemns the President for

breaking the law by authorizing an illegal wiretapping program, and

for misleading Congress and the American people about the existence

and legality of that program.

 

The President Broke the Law by Wiretapping Outside of FISA

 

It Is Illegal to Wiretap Without the Requisite Warrant or Court Order

: The law is clear that the criminal wiretap statute and Foreign

Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) " shall be the exclusive means by

which electronic surveillance . . . and the interception of domestic

wire, oral, and electronic communications may be conducted. "

 

FISA Has an Emergency Exception: The Administration has indicated that

it ignored FISA because the application process takes too long. In

fact, in an emergency where the Attorney General believes that

surveillance must begin before a court order can be obtained, FISA

permits him to immediately authorize the surveillance as long as the

government goes to the court within 72 hours. Prior to 2001, the

emergency wiretap period was only 24 hours. The Administration

requested and received the increase to 72 hours in intelligence

authorization legislation that passed in late 2001.

 

FISA Provides for Wartime Situations: FISA also permits the Attorney

General to authorize warrantless electronic surveillance in the United

States during the 15 days following a declaration of war, to allow

time to consider any amendments to FISA necessitated by a wartime

emergency.

 

The Administration Has Used FISA Thousands of Times Since 9/11:

Administration officials have criticized FISA, but they have obtained

thousands of warrants approved by the FISA court since 9/11, and have

almost never had a warrant request rejected by that court.

 

The President Made Misleading Arguments Defending his Wiretapping

Program

 

Military Force Resolution Did Not Authorize Wiretapping: The President

has argued that Congress gave him authority to wiretap Americans on

U.S. soil without a warrant when it passed the Authorization for Use

of Military Force after September 11, 2001. There is no language in

the resolution and no evidence to suggest that it was intended to give

the President authority to order these warrantless wiretaps.

Warrantless domestic surveillance is not an " incident of war " akin to

detaining an enemy soldier on the battlefield as the Administration

has argued.

 

In fact, Congress passed the Patriot Act just six weeks after

September 11 to expand the government's powers to conduct surveillance

of suspected terrorists and spies. Yet the Administration did not ask

for, nor did the Patriot Act include, any change to FISA's requirement

of judicial approval for wiretaps of Americans in the United States.

 

Prohibition on Wiretapping Limits Executive Power: The President's

assertion of inherent executive power is also wrong. The President has

extensive authority when it comes to national security and foreign

affairs, but given the clear prohibition in FISA, that authority does

not include the power to wiretap American citizens on American soil

without a warrant.

 

Executive Branch Review of Wiretapping Is Not Enough: The President

has argued that periodic executive branch review provides an adequate

check on the program. But Congress when it passed FISA explicitly

rejected the idea that the executive branch should be fully entrusted

to conduct national security wiretaps on its own – a power that the

executive had abused in the past. In addition, the Administration has

said that NSA employees decide whose communications to tap. Executive

branch employees are no substitute for FISA Court judges.

 

Congress Did Not Approve This Program: The extremely limited briefings

of the President's warrantless surveillance programs to a handful of

Congressional leaders did not constitute Congressional oversight, much

less approval. In fact, the failure of the President to keep the

Congressional Intelligence Committees " fully and currently informed of

all intelligence activities " was a violation of the National Security

Act.

 

The President Made Misleading Public Statements about Administration

Wiretapping

 

" Finally, we need to renew the critical provisions of the Patriot Act

that protect our civil liberties. The Patriot Act was written with

clear safeguards to ensure the law is applied fairly. The judicial

branch has a strong oversight role. Law enforcement officers need a

federal judge's permission to wiretap a foreign terrorist's phone, a

federal judge's permission to track his calls, or a federal judge's

permission to search his property. Officers must meet strict standards

to use any of these tools. And these standards are fully consistent

with the Constitution of the U.S. "

 

--President George Bush, June 9, 2005, in Columbus, Ohio

 

" A couple of things that are very important for you to understand

about the Patriot Act. First of all, any action that takes place by

law enforcement requires a court order . In other words, the

government can't move on wiretaps or roving wiretaps without getting a

court order.

Now, we've used things like roving wiretaps on drug dealers before.

Roving wiretaps mean you change your cell phone. And yet, we weren't

able to use roving wiretaps on terrorists. And so what the Patriot Act

said is let's give our law enforcement the tools necessary, without

abridging the Constitution of the United States, the tools necessary

to defend America. "

 

--President George Bush, July 14, 2004, in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin

 

" Secondly, there are such things as roving wiretaps. Now, by the way,

any time you hear the United States government talking about wiretap,

it requires -- a wiretap requires a court order. Nothing has changed,

by the way. When we're talking about chasing down terrorists, we're

talking about getting a court order before we do so. It's important

for our fellow citizens to understand, when you think Patriot Act,

constitutional guarantees are in place when it comes to doing what is

necessary to protect our homeland, because we value the Constitution. "

 

--President George Bush, April 20, 2004, in Buffalo, New York

 

 

 

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