FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 24, 2008
Democratic Senate candidate Steve Novick issued the following statement on today's Senate vote to extend retroactive legal immunity to the telecommunications industry for the warrantless wiretapping of American citizens:
"Today, Gordon Smith and several Democrats in the Senate, though fortunately not Ron Wyden, joined with Republicans to sacrifice our liberties and privacy at the behest of the Bush administration and the telecommunications industry – another example of why we must elect a strong progressive majority to the Senate this November.
"During this campaign, I have repeatedly implored Democrats in Congress not to cave on the issue of warrantless wiretapping out of fear of looking soft on terrorism. We must make sure our intelligence agencies have the tools to defeat our enemies, but not at the cost of our personal freedom. Giving these telecommunications giants a free pass for any of their actions in the past or anything they could do in the future at the behest of the Bush administration clearly does not meet that balance.
"I first raised this issue in August when the Congressional Democrats approved Bush Administration changes to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, noting that Democratic leaders seemed more interested in taking their summer recess than standing up to the President. It was my hope that as those changes would expire after six months, Congress would use the opportunity to pass the needed reforms, while retaining strong accountability measures. And last month I praised Senate Majority Leader Reid for putting off a vote to work with Senators Dodd, Feingold, Wyden and others to address these concerns. Today's vote clearly demonstrates that that praise was misguided.
"Fortunately, this is not the last word on this legislation as the House has stood strong on protecting our liberties in this process. It is my hope that as this legislation moves forward, Senators Dodd, Feingold, Wyden and others, as well as the Democratic leadership in the House can convince their colleagues in the Senate that it is possible to be tough on terrorism without sacrificing our liberties."
