My, my. What a coincidence. On June 9, 2008, Florida Congressman Tim Mahoney received a campaign contribution from AT&T’s federal political action committee. On June 20, 2008, Tim Mahoney voted for the FISA Amendments Act, a bill that gives AT&T retroactive immunity for breaking the law by violating its customers’ privacy. On June 27, 2008, Tim Mahoney received another two campaign contributions from AT&T’s federal political action committee. Just a coincidence, I’m sure... Read Full Story

The Constitution is very clear about the relationship that Congress is supposed to have with religion: Hands off neutrality. “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion,” the first sentence of the first amendment in the Bill of Rights states. That means that Congress isn’t only prohibited from establishing religion, but that it can’t even make a law with regard to the establishment of religion. Yet H.RES.1358, introduced on Monday by Democratic Congressman Heath... Read Full Story

When I spoke with Democratic congressional candidate Barry Welsh a couple of weeks ago, I asked him about the domestic policy agenda he would support as a member of the House of Representatives. Here’s what he told me in response: “One thing I would like to see us move towards would be a public works project act for strengthening our infrastructure. One of the things that we’re doing, one of the things that our campaign is launching, is called the Three E Revolution, the Three Es being the... Read Full Story

Republican Senator Mitch McConnell said a revealing thing during the too-short Senate debate on the FISA Amendments Act. He said, “Americans have a right to expect Congress to give our intelligence officials what they need to do their jobs.” Funny, but I’ve looked through the Constitution, and I just can’t find that particular legal right established anywhere. The Constitution is where Americans derive their rights, so if we do have this supposed right, it would be there, but it’s not. What... Read Full Story

It’s been a week since the Senate voted to approve the FISA Amendments Act, and a week since I wrote an article here at That’s My Congress. I’ve been too disgusted with the outcome of that vote to return to the keyboard. Disgust remains, but anger grows. The FISA Amendments Act takes the heart of the Constitution. No checks and balances. Retroactive laws. No equal protection under the law. The fourth amendment trashed. The following are the United States Senators who voted for this... Read Full Story

A few days ago, I reported that Rhode Island’s United States Senator Sheldon Whitehouse was waffling back and forth, unwilling to take a position on the FISA Amendments Act. Well, now that the final Senate vote on the FISA Amendments Act has been taken, that’s changed… sort of. First, Sheldon Whitehouse took to the floor of the Senate and condemned the FISA Amendments Act. He called it a “naked intrusion” of Congress into judicial responsibilities, “picking winners and losers as we like... Read Full Story

We have been writing about the FISA Amendments Act for two weeks now. We’ve covered every angle of it that we can think of, explaining the many ways in which the proposed law wrecks the Constitution’s power to protect American citizens from government abuse. Now is the final hour. At 10:00 AM Eastern Time today, the Senate will begin debate on the FISA Amendments Act, and a vote is likely to come soon afterwards. The FISA Amendments Act establishes the Attorney General as a spymaster beyond... Read Full Story

The 6th congressional district in Indiana has been plagued by a distant, distracted, disconnected Representative in Washington: Mike Pence. As the economy gets worse and worse, Congressman Pence has seemed to be unaware of the problem. Even as Americans are having to pay for huge increases in the cost of essentials like gasoline and food, Congressman Pence voted against legislation to give the first boost in pay for hard-working Americans in two decades. Of course, our economic problems... Read Full Story

Rhode Island Democrats need to call the office of Sheldon Whitehouse and remind him to take his backbone with him when he goes to work to at the United States Senate tomorrow. Tomorrow is the scheduled date for the Senate’s final vote on the FISA Amendments Act, a bill that would endorse George W. Bush’s program to spy without any oversight on the personal communications of millions of Americans. The FISA Amendments Act also violates the Constitution’s ban on ex post facto laws, the fourth... Read Full Story

I live in New York State, and am represented by Charles Schumer and Hillary Clinton in the United States Senate. I’ve called the offices of both about the FISA Amendments Act. After an initial uncertainty, Senator Schumer joined Russ Feingold and Chris Dodd in an attempted filibuster of the proposed law. He clearly is in opposition to the bill. Senator Clinton is not. That doesn’t necessarily mean that she will vote for the FISA Amendments Act on Tuesday. It means that she refuses to say... Read Full Story