FISA: Telecom immunity okay

The Senate passed the update to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act that grants immunity to telecom companies from lawsuits with a 69-28 vote.

Before the vote, Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) said, in his opening statement, that 40 lawsuits are being litigated. Retroactive immunity should be given to phone companies, Specter said. There is a way to protect the phone companies without giving up the details of their programs, Specter said.
Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) said that it is time to hold the government accountable and let the Supreme Court review the bill. Sen. Leahy said he supports the amendments presented by Senators Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I) and Arlen Specter (R-Pa.). This administration is not above the law, Sen. Leahy said.

Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), who wanted to strike lawsuit immunity, said that the administration has been doing warrantless wiretapping for too long. “Five years is too much.” Dodd said that it is a matter of balancing national security with constitutional rights, and when any government makes citizens give up their rights for national security, it is wrong. The government should have the tools to stop terrorism, but it must stay balanced with the rights of its citizens, Dodd said.

Sen. Kit Bond (R-Mo.) said the Senate Committee on Intelligence oversees the use of wiretapping to make sure it does not violate citizens’ rights. But Senate intelligence briefings do have to stop at a certain point, Bond said, or otherwise too much will be revealed. The telephone companies are being “good patriotic Americans” and should be protected.

Mukasey dodges bullets

Attorney General Michael Mukasey testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee in a hearing on oversight of the Department of Justice. Mukasey was questioned about past and present ‘politicization’ of the department, openness of the department with its findings, and controversial new criteria he has implemented for launching investigations into suspected terrorist activity.

A barrage of questions from Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) proved ineffective. When asked by Schumer whether he would make records from certain cases from the Office of Professional Responsibility available to committee, Mukasey stated that it would depend on evidence. In response to his testimony, Schumer stated that he was very disappointed with the Attorney General’s answers. These sentiments were echoed by other members of the committee.

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) criticized the Office of Legal Counsel’s actions, referring to it as ‘George Bush’s Shop of Legal Horrors'. He also called for Mukasey to learn from past mistakes in the deparment.

Mukasey was also questioned about new terrorist investigation criteria. These criteria would allow the department to access information on things like travel records and weapons possession. Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WIS) addressed the issue, asking about the limits to which these criteria would go. Mukasey dismissed the questions as dealing with hypotheticals.

Senate seeks legislation to reduce unsafe mercury pollution

The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee held a hearing to discuss various pieces of legislation pertaining to the proliferation of mercury in the environment and in exports. Chairman Barbara Boxer (D-CA) could not be present, so Sen. Tom Carper conducted the hearing in her place. Carper said that “one in 17 women of childbearing age have mercury in their blood at levels that could pose a risk to their unborn children,” emphasizing that these groups are most at risk for health threats.

The senators discussed the merits of various mercury legislation including the Clean Air Mercury Rule (CAMR), which Carper said was “flawed” and “did not go far enough to protect the health of America’s vulnerable populations.” He advocated instead the Mercury Emissions Control Act, which “would require the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to issue a new, stronger rule to control mercury emissions from power plants, as required by the Clean Air Act.”

Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) said that no matter what the costs of implementing measures to decrease mercury pollution, the government should have laws “as strong as we can take” to do so because of the potential threat to human health in both adults and infants.

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) said that “as long as there have been Americans, there have been dads who took their sons fishing” and that “we are in a situation now where that’s not really feasible any longer” because of mercury pollution in fish that makes it unsafe to eat. He called this a “thievery” of the American experience, and said that he was frustrated to see an EPA that “doesn’t take its duties seriously.”

Hearing on Environmental Protection: Toxic Chemical Policies

Today the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works held a hearing on the Environmental Protection Agency’s toxic chemical policies. Chairman Barbara Boxer (D-CA) blamed the Bush Administration for changes in EPA’s policies that allow political interference in the scientific risk assessment process. She argued that allowing political entities to interfere in a process that demands only scientific expertise inhibits the acquisition of the most accurate information needed to develop policies that will protect American citizens and children from harmful toxins and chemicals in air and drinking water.

Another concern was the secrecy involved in EPA policy making. The Government Accountability Office report said that the EPA had failed to deliver timely, accurate reports that could be held accountable. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) presented a flow chart that compared the EPA’s risk assessment process prior to 2004 to its most recent model, which displays many more steps and which he says obscures the transparency of the process.

Contrasts were made between the United States’ Toxic Substances Control Act, which makes the government responsible for proving chemical safety, and its European counterpart, REACH, that puts the burden of proving chemical safety on the chemical industry itself, which Chairman Boxer said in her written statement is “where it should be.”