http://www.correntewire.com/bush_starts_to_run_out_the_clock_on_fisa_six_month_sunset_provisionBush starts to run out the clock on FISA six month sunset provision
Submitted by lambert on Sat, 2007-08-18 09:52.
What a surprise. AP:
The White House on Friday asked a Senate panel for more time to produce subpoenaed information about the legal justification for President Bush’s secretive eavesdropping program.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy had set Monday as the deadline for administration officials already subpoenaed to provide documents and testimony about the National Security Agency’s eavesdropping program.
In Fielding’s letter to Leahy, which was released by the White House in Crawford, Texas, where Bush is staying at his ranch, the president’s lawyer said that while the White House had identified a core group of documents in response to the subpoenas, the work is “by no means complete” and could not be completed by Monday.
Naturally, Leahy will say “Give us what you’ve got,” right?
And now the kicker:
suggested further conversations with the panel, saying the White House did not want the issue to interfere with the administration’s desire to make more permanent the new powers Congress just gave NSA to monitor communications entering the United States involving foreigners who are the subjects of a national security investigation.
While Congress approved the measure, lawmakers specified that the new provisions would expire after six months, unless renewed.