How To Pressure Congress On FISA

The Daily Floor Agenda

It's time to fight back. The vote on the FISA Act will come between 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. We don't have very much time left. We'd better burn up those phone lines fast!

And here's Majority Whip Leader, James Clyburn on the FISA Act. He's the one that's in charge of floor votes, and here's his statement below:

WASHINGTON, D.C. – House Majority Whip James E. Clyburn today released the following statement regarding introduction of the bipartisan Foreign Intelligence Surveillance (FISA) Amendments Act of 2008, H.R. 6304.

“The compromise agreement introduced today will strengthen our national security by ensuring that our intelligence professionals have all the tools they need to defend the American people, and at the same time protecting our civil liberties. This compromise is the product of months of negotiations between the House, the Senate, and the Administration.
 
“I want to commend House Majority Leader Hoyer, Chairman Reyes and Chairman Conyers for their hard work and leadership throughout these negotiations.

“The New Direction Congress has been vigilant in securing our homeland and strengthening our counter-terrorist capabilities.  Almost immediately after taking office, Democrats in the House of Representatives began working to pass legislation that would modernize FISA and respond to the needs of the intelligence community.   Since then, the House has taken up and passed multiple bills that would have accomplished those ends, but they met with opposition from Republicans and the Administration.  Democrats in the House and Senate responded to these concerns by reaching out and working in a bipartisan manner to produce compromise legislation that would pass both the House and Senate and be signed into law.

“The result is H.R. 6304, an important and historic bipartisan agreement to modernize FISA and ensure our Nation’s safety, while at the same time protect our civil liberties.  While there are aspects of this agreement that are not perfect, the bill is a substantial improvement over the Protect America Act and the bill that passed the Senate earlier this year.  I call on my colleagues to join me to pass this critically important legislation.”

Please CONTACT MAJORITY WHIP LEADER JAMES CLYBURN and let him know what you think!

And, here is THE FULL BILL TEXT OF NEW FISA BILL, and it's there for you to read in an easy .pdf format.

And don't forget to CALL YOUR REPRESENTATIVE to give them a proper chewing out on this horrible bill. Let me give you a few pointers on how to call a congressional office.

1. When you call your Member's office, please ask to be connected to the telecommunications staffer, as that's the one that makes vote recommendations for your Member. If the telecommunications staffer is not there, ask for the Legislative Director who makes vote recommendations as well.

2. Ask for the staffer's full name. Then e-mail that staffer by [First Name]dot[Last Name]at mail dot house dot gov. So, a typical e-mail address for a House staffer would be [e-mail].

3. Come back here and share your staffer's e-mail with other Kossacks for an e-mail blast.

4. Don't let up all day.

I hope you found this diary to be helpful to you in pressuring your Representative to vote the right way, which is NO on the FISA bill.

Oh, and by the way, Steny Hoyer, the one that's pushing this terrible bill? His chief of staff's name is Terry Lierman, so e-mail [e-mail].