Expect the Senate to take up the bad House FISA bill on Wednesday. Whatever lipstick Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer tried to put on this pig, it's still a bad bill. While it might be better than the Rockefeller/Cheney bill the Senate tried to ram through, "better" doesn't mean "good." That provided a fig leaf for 105 Democrats in the House of Representatives last week, but we should make it absolutely clear to our Senators that that argument carries very little credibility.

Russ Feingold provides a quick, non-legalistic summary of the bill--including it's very few good points--showing just that in this fact sheet from Sen. Feingold. In synopsis:

On retroactive immunity, the bill virtually guarantees it, despite the fig-leaf of a district court review.

In their infinite wisdom, Hoyer and the negotiators set the bill to sunset in the fall of 2012--just before the next presidential election. This bad bill should not be in effect for that long, and shouldn't be subject to election year politics, again.

The protections against reverse targeting are inadequte--the guidelines for targeting someone in the U.S. are not subject to judicial review, or the requirement of a court order for that surveillance.

The bill doesn't prohibit bulk collection--"the collection of all international communications into and out of the U.S. to a whole continent or even the entire world."

The bill contains a far too broad "exigency" exception to the idea of FISC exclusivity--the Attorney General or DNI can certify that they don't have time to get a court order.

Even if the FISC determines after that fact that the surveillance violated the law, the government can still keep and use any of the information it obtains under those illegal warrants.

The bill doesn't provide additional checks and balances for Americans at home whose international communications are obtained because they are communicating with someone overseas.

Note that most of these provisions had passed the Judiciary committee and received majority support in the Democratic caucus--majority support obviously meant little to Hoyer/Rockefeller and the other Dem negotiators on the House bill. Nor did the work of the Judiciary Committees who were either shut out of the negotiations or didn't work hard enough to be included in them.

That means Leahy and the members of the Judiciary Committee should have a vested interest in seeing this bill fail. To that end, here's Christy at FDL:

The objective is to strip immunity from the bill. We need to figure out a way to make that happen before leadership caves on this altogether. Sen. Feingold's office has put up a handy fact sheet on the problems with the bill [see my link above]. One way to push on this is to flood the offices of Senators with calls and FAXes telling them to do just that. If they don't hear from you, then they won't know you are pissed -- so let's get to work... Toll-free numbers for Congress from Katymine: 1 (800) 828 - 0498

1 (800) 459 - 1887

1 (800) 614 - 2803

1 (866) 340 - 9281

1 (866) 338 - 1015

1 (877) 851 - 6437 Several Senators could use extra contact on this -- uncommitted or wavering Democrats, leadership folks, members of the Gang of 14, and a number of wavering Republicans. Tell them no telecom immunity -- period. It is well past time that respect for the rule of law and the role of Congress in the balance of powers was restored....[See that list below the fold]

In addition to the list that Christy provides (below the fold), there are some Dems who are with us but who need to know that we'll have their back if they make this a fight. That includes Dodd and Feingold and those Senators who worked with Dodd to keep the bill from passing last December. Ask them to do it again:

Russ Feingold: Phone: (202) 224-5323, Fax: (202) 224-2725)

Chris Dodd: Phone: (202) 224-2823, Fax: (202) 224-1083)

Ron Wyden: Phone: (202) 224-5244, Fax: (202) 228-2717

Barbara Boxer: Phone: (202) 224-3553, Fax: (202) 224-0454

Sherrod Brown: Phone: (202) 224-2315, Fax: (202) 228-6321

Ted Kennedy: Phone: (202) 224-4543, Fax: (202) 224-2417