The ACLU’s FISA Flood Campaign — a monumental outpouring of grassroots energy — is in full swing. Congress is feeling the pressure to remedy the August legislation that handed expansive and unnecessary new powers to the Administration.
Two bills aimed at cleaning up the mess were introduced in the House yesterday, but only one, the FISA Modernization Bill, does the job.
Tell your Representative to support the FISA Modernization Act instead of the RESTORE Act.
Dear Friend,
Thanks to the vocal outcry from activists like you, the ACLU’s FISA Flood campaign is getting through to Congress. But our work is not over.
Congress must remedy the situation it created in August when it handed the Bush Administration vast new powers to invade our privacy with no meaningful oversight from the courts or Congress. When Congress failed freedom, it caused a massive outcry from freedom-loving people across the country.
Tell your representative: Stand up for the Constitution, fix FISA.
As the result of the outcry, two bills were introduced yesterday to fix the disastrous Protect America Act that was rushed through Congress in August, rubberstamping the administration's warrantless wiretapping program. Both were efforts to fix FISA, but we must make it clear that only the FISA Modernization Bill does the job.
Tell your representative to support the FISA Modernization Bill instead of the RESTORE Act.
The RESTORE Act caves in to Bush’s fear-mongering in a major way by allowing for program or basket “warrants,” which aren't really warrants at all. They're the modern-day equivalent of allowing government agents to sit in our living rooms, recording our personal conversations. Only they're more frightening, because the government now has the capacity to monitor us remotely and without our knowledge, and to save the information in a secret database forever.
Please, call your representative now to stop basket warrants from being used against Americans.
Tell him or her to support the FISA Modernization Bill of 2007 instead of the RESTORE Act.
Here are some talking points for your call:
1. Please support the FISA Modernization Act of 2007 introduced by Representative Rush Holt, instead of the RESTORE Act. Only pass a FISA modernization bill that has individualized warrants.
2. Blanket or program “warrants” that allow the government to vacuum up the international telephone calls and emails of Americans aren’t really warrants at all, and they aren’t constitutional.
3. Americans are looking to Congress to stand up to the Bush Administration, not cave in to threats of being labeled soft on terrorism.
It’s no surprise that the Bush Administration is again using the threat of terror to bully Congress into giving them more power than they need to keep us safe. To counter these misrepresentations, Congress needs to hear that America can be both safe and free by passing a FISA Modernization bill that protects our constitutional rights.
Once you’ve called your representative, please tell us that you called and if possible, how your call went. This information is extremely helpful to our staff when they meet with Members of Congress, because they’re able to convey how many of their constituents care about fixing FISA. Please tell us if you called and how your call went.
Thank you for taking action and being involved.
Sincerely,
Caroline Fredrickson, Director
ACLU Washington Legislative Office
P.S. We won’t let a single member of Congress off the hook when it comes to abandoning the Constitution. Our Don’t Wait for ’08 campaign needs your help as we approach our October 17 deadline. Please take a few minutes now to ask your member of Congress: Will you defend the Constitution?
Then, watch for updates on which Members of Congress have made the Commitment to the Constitution and news of how you can help us target the ones who haven’t.
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