June 19, 2008 | Washington, DC | www.adc.org | The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) urges you to immediately contact your congressional members and ask them to oppose a new deal on warrantless wiretapping. This afternoon, Senate and House leaders reached the deal on competing versions of a comprehensive overhaul of the nation‘s intelligence surveillance laws. This follows months of back and forth negotiations between Republicans, Democrats and the White House.
The text of the deal was just released this afternoon and will be rushed to the House floor for a vote early tomorrow morning, Friday, June 20. The Senate will vote on the same legislation early next week. Since Congress is rushing to pass this bill, we are encouraging ADC members to call their congressional offices as soon as possible relaying their opposition to the compromise package.
Only minimal changes have been made from last year‘s Protect America Act and none of them go far enough to actually protect American civil liberties and Fourth Amendment rights. There can be little doubt that communication between Arab Americans and their family and friends abroad in the Middle East are under particular scrutiny by the government‘s intelligence agencies. ADC believes the nation can be vigilant on national security matters without abandoning the civil liberties of innocent Americans or compromising away our Constitutional protections.
To find out who represents you in the US Congress, enter your zip code on the following site and hit “go”: http://capwiz.com/adc/dbq/officials/ Keep in mind that everyone has one representative in the House and two senators, so please make three phone calls as soon as possible.
Talking Points:
· · I urge my member of Congress to oppose the so-called “compromise” on wiretapping.
· · Americans‘ civil liberties and Constitutional protections should never be compromised and this congressional bill does just that.
· · Telecommunications companies that cooperated with the Bush Administration and handed over the phone and email communications of ordinary Americans do not deserve immunity for their actions.
· · Congress should be able to find away to protect our national security without abandoning Americans‘ civil liberties and compromise away our most valued treasure; the US Constitution.