“When this Protect America Act expires, we are going to go back under the same set of rules and regulations that were in place before 9/11” –Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-MI), Top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, 2/15/08
….
New York Post: Lawyers Fiddle, America Burns.
February 18, 2008 — The Protect America Act - a modernization of the three-decade old Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which authorizes intercepts of foreign communications - has expired.
Before departing on a 10-day recess, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her fellow Democrats Thursday refused to vote on a reauthorization of the law - even though it passed by a huge bipartisan majority in the Senate earlier in the week.
However, House Democrats did find time to issue contempt-of-Congress citations to White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten and former counsel Harriet Miers. The citations relate to the overblown fired-federal-prosecutors “scandal” of a year ago.
Thus, Pelosi and Co. made their priorities abundantly clear to the country:
* Play politics.
* Go on vacation.
* To hell with national security.
Video from GOP.gov:
FISA fact check.
Weekly Standard: Hear No Evil, Are House Democrats Serious About National Security?
Washington Examiner: House Democrats Play Politics With Lives.
Washington Times: Pelosi’s Shameful Pandering.
Powerline: Playing Politics With National Security.
Investor’s Business Daily: No Time For Recess.
Wall Street Journal: Obama’s Wiretap Vote.