Dems Plan "Unofficial" Wiretap Hearings Friday

[AtomicKitten]

Democrats ready for unofficial wiretap hearings Friday
http://rawstory.com/news/2005/Democrats_ready_for_unofficial_wiretap_hearings_0118.html


House Democrats, led by liberal Michigan Congressmen John Conyers, will hold unofficial hearings on the legality of President Bush's warantless wiretap programs Friday, and have added additional witnesses and congressmembers to their retinue, RAW STORY can report.

Democrats are holding the hearings, they say, because a request for hearings from the Republican-led Judiciary Committee have fallen on deaf ears. In the Senate, Republican Judiciary chairman Arlen Specter (R-PA) has said he will hold formal hearings to examine the ramifications of the taps.

A spokesman for the Republican-led Judiciary Committee declined to comment; he said that because the House was in recess nothing was currently planned.

At least seven Democratic members are scheduled to attend the hearings: Reps. John Conyers, Jr., Bobby Scott, Chris Van Hollen, Adam Schiff, Maxine Waters, Jerrold Nadler and Maurice Hinchey.

Among the more prominent witnesses include Bruce Fein, an Associate Deputy Attorney General under President Ronald Reagan, and James Bamford, an intelligence expert who has revealed details about the NSA spying project.

Also attending: George Washington Law School Professor Jonathan Turley, the American Civil Liberties Union's Washington Legislative Director Caroline Frederickson, Director of the Center for National Security Studies Kate Martin, and the Truth Project's Richard Hersh.

"Last month all 17 House Judiciary Democrats called on Chairman Sensenbrenner to convene hearings to investigate the President's use of the National Security Agency to conduct surveillance involving U.S. citizens on U.S. soil," Conyers said in a statement. "As our request has since been ignored, it is our job, as Members of Congress, to review the program and consider whether our criminal laws have been violated and our citizen's constitutional rights trampled upon.

He added: "We simply cannot tolerate a situation where the Administration is operating as prosecutor, judge and jury and excluding Congress and the courts from providing any meaningful check or balance to the process."

The hearings are open to the public and will be held Friday, Jan. 20 at 11:00am in room B339 at the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington.

[AndyTiedye]

1. Do They Have the Basement Meeting Room Again?

> in room B339

looks like it.


Will CSPAN be covering it?

[shance]

2. Don't let the Republicans or anyone dictate whether the hearings

are "unofficial" or not.

They are official hearings, and anyone who thinks otherwise should be considered irrelevant.

Democrats should not apologize and marginalize these meetings by calling them "unofficial". Thats ridiculous.

Just call them OFFICIAL. Just because the Republicans don't have the guts or morals to show up to these hearings, that does not make these meetings "unofficial" which is an invalidating term to begin with.

Its like calling something "pretend".

[Mr.Green93]

3. Correct.

People believe what they hear and we should believe what we tell them.

[tritsofme]

4. They're "unofficial" simply because they are "unofficial"

as in they don't have the endorsement of the Judiciary Committee, they lack subpoena power, the fact that the House is not in session, ect.

The way the House works, with Republicans not showing up/ not endorsing the hearings does make them unofficial, and that is a matter of fact.

It does not take away from their symbollic value, and it proves a point to voters that Democrats are willing to step in and provide oversight where none exists, but I see no reason to call it something it is not.