FISA Intel Committee Report Has A Flaw But Will Dodd Confront It?

  We all know about the battle going on in the Senate over the FISA Bill and it's telecom immunity provision which Bush wants in the bill so that his sorry ass will be covered once again  for breaking the law.

Packerland progressive, by way of the DailyKos, takes  a look at one way in which Dodd and Feingold could stop this lame excuse for a bill bead in it's tracks. Can you say " Point of Order "? This FISA Bill has some flaws in it which can be exploited in order to make this bill DOA.

Packerland progressive :...I wanted to spend a diary highlighting what appears to be a fatal procedural flaw in the "Committee Report" which represents the Intelligence Committee's version (i.e., the bad bill providing Telco amnesty).  Why does it matter?  Because it creates one more way for Dodd, Feingold, and (whoever else steps up to protect the constitution) to stop this thing dead in its tracks on the Senate floor.

When a Committee reports out a bill to the Senate floor, it prepares a committee report, describing present law, how the proposed legislation would change present law, and the reasons the Committee recommends making such changes to the law.  And what the above rule says is that, as part of that review, the Committee is supposed to evaluate the impact the proposed change would have on individuals and businesses, including "a determination of the impact on the personal privacy of the individuals affected."

And one would almost think that the FISA legislation is the poster child for such a rule, requiring the Committee with jurisdiction to evaluate and report to the full Senate its analysis of how the legislation would impact personal privacy.  One might almost think that such an evaluation would be perhaps the single most important thing the Intelligence Committee should have been doing in the course of its markup of the Bill. So, what does the Regulatory Impact Statement of the Committee Report (Senate Report 110-209) say on this matter?

EVALUATION OF REGULATORY IMPACT
In accordance with paragraph 11(b)(2) of rule XXVI of the Standing Rules of the Senate, the Committee deems it impractical to evaluate in this report the regulatory impact of provisions of this bill due to the classified nature of the operations conducted pursuant to this legislation.   DailyKos

  This is where both Dodd and Feingold have the upper hand. Since the impact on personal privacy was never done by the committee, Dodd and/or Feingold can call for a point of order, pointing out that things were not done by the Senate rules. This bill then goes nowhere until things are done in the proper manner.

  You can just hear all of the crying and howling and screaming going on if Dodd/Feingold do the right thing on this matter.

Technorati Tags: FISA, telecom immuntiy, George Bush, Chris Dodd, Russ Feingold, Harry Reid, U.S. Senate