DEFENDING OUR CIVIL LIBERTIES

The Bush Administration’s uncompromising efforts to broaden and abuse its powers have eroded the rights and freedoms of all Americans.  That’s why I have been active in opposing many of its initiatives, particularly those that clamp down on the civil liberties of Americans.  We must be as vigilant in protecting our civil liberties as we are in protecting our country from terrorist attacks.

You may be interested to know that I repeatedly voted against the PATRIOT Act because of its egregious infringement on our civil liberties.  Unfortunately, many of the potential problems in this bill about which I had concerns came true.  From the forced resignations of nine U.S. attorneys to the National Security Agency’s (NSA) unauthorized wiretapping program, my concerns for the protection of our civil liberties and personal privacy have only increased.  When the Bush Administration used one of these provisions to fire nine U.S. attorneys for political reasons in 2006, circumventing the traditional Senate confirmation process, I voted for legislation to stop the Bush Administration from appointing attorneys indefinitely without such confirmation. As a member of the Congressional PATRIOT Act Reform Caucus, I will continue to be an active voice in opposition to the PATRIOT Act and support efforts to repeal a number of its provisions.

Additionally, I strongly opposed the Bush Administration’s efforts to eavesdrop on Americans through its illegal warrantless wiretapping program. That’s why I fought against the Bush Administration’s expansive changes to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) in August 2007, which contained no protections for the collection of Americans communications, and I was pleased these changes expired in February 2008. I voted for stronger FISA legislation that would have restored the role of the FISA court and struck the right balance between protecting civil liberties and giving the intelligence community the tools that it needs to protect our nation’s interests. Unfortunately, the President signed into law the FISA Amendments Act in July 2008, which I voted against because it permits mass, untargeted surveillance of Americans’ communications without fundamental protections for Americans’ civil liberties and provides in de facto immunity for telecommunications companies that illegally cooperated with the Adinistration’s domestic spying program.

Furthermore, the President’s use of signing statements to circumvent our constitutionally protected system of checks and balances and to rewrite laws passed by Congress must be stopped. That’s why I’m cosponsor of H.R. 3045, the Presidential Signing Statements Act, which would prohibit any court from rely on a presidential signing statement as a source of authority and eliminate the President’s ability to selectively nullify statutory provisions. We cannot allow these attacks on the integrity of the Constitution to continue.

Be assured that I will continue to speak out against the Bush Administration on policies that do nothing more than curtail our nation’s freedoms.

(updated Sept. 2008)