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Rep. Steny Hoyer cut a deal to let companies that helped President Bush break the law off the hook. Now he's urging other Democrats to support it. Can you tell him to stop pushing immunity for lawbreaking phone companies?

Representative Steny Hoyer
Phone: 202-225-4131
Report your call

Dear MoveOn member,

It was announced today that your Representative, Steny Hoyer, cut a deal with President Bush to give a get-out-of-jail-free card to phone companies that helped Bush illegally spy on innocent Americans.1 Senator Russ Feingold says the "deal is not a compromise; it is a capitulation."2

The vote is tomorrow, and we can still stop this bill. As Majority Leader, Hoyer is reportedly pressuring other Democrats to support his bad deal.3 We must tell him to stop.

Can you call Steny Hoyer and tell him: "Stand up to Bush. Stop pushing immunity for phone companies that helped Bush break the law."

Here's where to call:

Representative Steny Hoyer
Phone: 202-225-4131

Then, please report your call by clicking here:

http://pol.moveon.org/call/?tg=FHMD_05&cp_id=756

By giving legal "immunity" to these companies, all lawsuits brought against them by civil liberties groups would be thrown out of court. That means Americans may never find out how far Bush went in breaking the law and violating our rights. Bush is trying to get immunity passed before there's a new President because once it's done, it can't be undone.

Supporters of today's deal say it doesn't guarantee immunity—it just kicks the issue to a court to decide. But that's deceptive. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) points out:

"It gives [Bush's] attorney general the power to decide if cases against telecommunications companies will proceed. The AG only has to certify to the FISA court that the company didn't spy or did so with a permission slip from the president. A note from the president is not a legal defense. Allowing phone companies to avoid litigation by simply presenting a 'permission slip' from the president is not court review."4

The Electronic Frontier Foundation, a non-profit group working with the ACLU to hold these companies accountable, adds, "whatever gloss might be put on it, the so-called 'compromise' on immunity for phone companies that broke the law is anything but a compromise...no matter how they spin it, this is still immunity, period."5

President Bush and the phone companies know that the facts are against them. A judge appointed by President Bush's father already wrote one opinion finding that "AT&T cannot seriously contend that a reasonable entity in its position could have believed that the alleged domestic dragnet was legal."6

But we'll never know how far their illegal actions went unless we fight back now. Can you call Steny Hoyer and tell him to stop pushing immunity for phone companies that helped Bush break the law?

Here's where to call:

Representative Steny Hoyer
Phone: 202-225-4131

Then, please report your call by clicking here:

http://pol.moveon.org/call/?tg=FHMD_05&cp_id=756

Thanks for all you do,

–Nita, Adam G., Patrick, Ilyse, and the MoveOn.org Political Action Team
Thursday, June 19, 2008

Sources:

1. "George Bush's latest powers, courtesy of the Democratic Congress," Glenn Greenwald on Salon.com, June 19, 2008
http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/06/19/telecom/index.html

2. "Statement of U.S. Senator Russ Feingold On the FISA Deal," Statement of Senator Russ Feingold, June 19, 2008
http://feingold.senate.gov/~feingold/statements/08/06/20080619f.htm

3. "George Bush's latest powers, courtesy of the Democratic Congress," Glenn Greenwald on Salon.com, June 19, 2008
http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/06/19/telecom/index.html

4. "Facts on the Senator Kit Bond's (R-Mo.) FISA Proposal [Written with Steny Hoyer]," June 13, 2008
http://www.aclu.org/safefree/spying/35652res20080613.html

5. "Prepared Statement of Eff Senior Staff Attorney Kevin Bankston on Immunity 'Compromise,'" Electronic Frontier Foundation, June 18, 2008
http://www.eff.org/files/filenode/EFF_bankston.pdf

6. "Targeting Steny Hoyer for his contempt for the rule of law," Glenn Greenwald on Salon.com, June 17, 2008
http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/06/17/hoyer/index.html
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