#fisa

It explains how Democrats in the Senate are playing hardball. They are blocking by partisan bills in ways they never have before. I don’t think most people are aware of that. I mean, I wasn’t aware of it until about five minutes ago.

Arthur Delaney at HuffPost:

WASHINGTON — Democrats in the House of Representatives voted down a short-term extension of a key spy law over President Donald Trump’s plans to put a loyalist in charge of federal spy agencies. The House on Thursday rejected an extension of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act by a vote of 198 to 218, with only seven Democrats in favor and 19 Republicans against. Lawmakers have been fighting over the law for years, with a coalition of far-right Republicans and progressive Democrats insisting the government should have to get a warrant when it wants to look through American communications captured in the course of foreign surveillance. But Trump’s decision to name Bill Pulte as director of national intelligence has disgusted even Democratic hawks who always vote to extend the surveillance powers. Pulte is a former real estate developer with no national security experience but a recent history of willingly serving as Trump’s attack dog. “Bill Pulte doesn’t get one day with this authority, because we know he’ll abuse it,” Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.), the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, told HuffPost.

[...] Plenty of Republicans have also complained about Trump naming Pulte — especially right before FISA was set to expire. “It would be nice if he got some feedback before he does something,” Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) told HuffPost. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said letting Section 702 lapse would put the public at risk of a terrorist attack.

Bipartisan rebuke of Donald Trump in the House leads to a block of extending Section 702 of FISA, as the vote failed 218-198. 7 Democrats crossed over in favor of extending Section 702, while 19 Republicans crossed over to reject the extension.

See Also:

FISA is a warrantless mass surveillance program. The SAVE Act permanently federally disenfranchises married women, trans people, people hiding from violent domestic partners, etc.

Do you think the government should have to get a warrant before massively violating your privacy? Do you thing trans people, married women, etc. should have a right to vote as citizens?

Tell your Congress Critters whatever you need to say to get them to oppose both bills

If you can’t safely contact them in person, here are some other options for contacting your Congress Critters:

Five Calls to your critters: https://5calls.org/

Here is one that will send your reps a fax: https://resist.bot/

And another: https://faxzero.com/fax_senate.php

Two years ago, President Donald Trump told Congress to “KILL FISA.” On Wednesday, he asked them to keep it alive for another 18 months, no changes needed.

Read More: https://thefreethoughtproject.com/government-surveillance/trump-backs-fisa-section-702-extension-drops-privacy-reform