Wiretapping Update: Hold, What Hold?

Chris Dodd's noble action yesterday doesn't squash the telecom immunity bill entirely, but it's supposed to slow it down and make it such a pain in the ass that nobody in their right mind would push it forward. Harry Reid is not in his right mind.

Tim Starks of Congressional Quarterly reports that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) plans to bring the Senate’s surveillance bill up for floor debate in mid-November. That’s despite the hold that Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT) plans to place on the measure — something first reported by Election Central’s Greg Sargent.

I’m a bit confused here. This just doesn’t happen. So I chatted with someone I know with extensive Hill experience, who said:

“I can’t think of one time when Harry Reid went around his own. It’s just not normal for a leader to do that to his own side. Sometimes you’ll go around Republicans, sometimes they’ll use holds to be “spoilers,” but that happens to the other guy. You just don’t do it to one of your own.”

Indeed, the bill passed out of the Intelligence Committee, with only Ron Wyden and Russ Feingold opposed. Wyden did manage to place a poison pill in there:

An amendment by Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), who opposed the bill for its inclusion of telecom immunity, requires the government to obtain a warrant when targeting an American overseas for surveillance.

Last night, White House spokesman Tony Fratto said: "We have strong concerns about that amendment. We certainly could not accept it."

Bond called the provision "problematic" and said that if it is not modified, passage could be difficult.

Jeez, it's almost like that those on the side of the rule of law are in the minority again. Putting poison pills in our own bills to knock them down? Unbelievable.

I have to hand it to Dodd again. He's fighting the good fight here, and he's the perfect person to take this on. One reason, besides the bully pulpit of running for President, is that he has already announced that he will not seek a run for re-election to the Senate. So the prospects of retaliation mean less to him. Still, this takes a lot of guts, which Barack Obama, who put out a nice little press release but hasn't gone to the same lengths, doesn't have in the same way. Obama did put a hold on the nomination of Hans von Spakovsky, which was huge, but look at the countervailing interests here. Opposing a Bush appointee is different from opposing Bush, the Republicans, and powerful telecom companies all at once.

And I'm as puzzled as Atrios about the idea of immunizing any party from breaking laws, given that there's legislation preventing ex post facto laws from being enacted.

UPDATE: If you want to know why Democratic leaders would be pushing to give telecom companies a free hand to break American law, this is a handy blog post.

Top Verizon executives, including CEO Ivan Seidenberg and President Dennis Strigl, wrote personal checks to (Senate Intelligence Committee Chair Jay) Rockefeller totaling $23,500 in March, 2007. Prior to that apparently coordinated flurry of 29 donations, only one of those executives had ever donated to Rockefeller (at least while working for Verizon).

In fact, prior to 2007, contributions to Rockefeller from company executives at AT&T and Verizon were mostly non-existent.
But that changed around the same time that the companies began lobbying Congress to grant them retroactive immunity from lawsuits seeking billions for their alleged participation in secret, warrantless surveillance programs that targeted Americans.

The Spring '07 checks represent 86 percent of money donated to Rockefeller by Verizon employees since at least 2001.

There are times when I really hate how perverted our political system has become.

UPDATE II: Dodd now vows to filibuster the bill.

Are you willing to go to the mat to restore the Constitution?

Just last night, we heard there are plans to disregard Senator Dodd's intention to place a hold on a FISA bill that includes amnesty for telecommunications companies.

That would be a pretty extraordinary move, but Chris Dodd has pledged to stop this horrible bill any way he can.

So if the hold is not honored, he is prepared to go to the Senate floor and filibuster.

Rolling back the Bush Administration assault on the rule of law has been a major focus of Chris Dodd's work in the Senate -- and it's also a centerpiece in his campaign for President.