Heather Wilson Caves to Bush on Warrantless Surveillance

According to the Associated Press, Heather Wilson has agreed to rewrite her bill on warrantless surveillance to match the demands of the Bush administration. I'm not making this up. Locked in a neck and neck race in NM-01 against Democratic challenger Patricia Madrid, the incumbent Republican Rep. Wilson's latest action to kowtow to Bush's dictates pretty much destroys any vestiges of validity to her repeated claims that she's "independent" of the administration and "moderate" in her approach. Excerpt from today's AP article:

Wilson offers to rewrite anti-terror surveillance bill more to Bush's liking

CAPITOL HILL The House Intelligence Committee today takes up a warrantless wiretapping bill that could ease a rift between the White House and Republican leaders on one side and some Republican lawmakers.

The proposal by New Mexico Republican Heather Wilson has been rewritten to allow wiretapping without warrants on Americans when the president believes a terrorist attack is "imminent."

As reported in an article published by The Hill, headlined, "Revolt over Wilson bill rocks panel," a number of moderate Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee are upset that Wilson has agreed to weaken their efforts to make the administration more accountable to civil and human rights standards by changing her bill to placate Bush and preserve a warrantless surveillance program with few oversight requirements. Excerpt:

Unrest among GOP members of the House Judiciary Committee threatens to overthrow a bill co-sponsored by Chairman James Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) aimed at altering policies governing federal intelligence-gathering programs.

Citing concerns over civil liberties and program stability, GOP committee members last week forced Sensenbrenner to cancel a markup of the bill that would allow President Bush’s warrantless surveillance program to continue with limited congressional oversight.

Republican members say they have enough votes to replace what they see as an unsavory bill, introduced by Rep. Heather Wilson (R-N.M.) and co-sponsored by Sensenbrenner, with a more palatable one during a scheduled markup this morning. [emphasis mine]

Several GOP and Democratic committee members are concerned that Wilson’s bill would separate oversight of Bush’s Terrorist Surveillance Program (TSP) from congressional oversight under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).

Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), who is spearheading GOP committee movement against Wilson’s bill, said the measure fails to create a solid system for TSP and would instead establish a passive, ad hoc response to terrorist attacks, rather than a steady program with legislative oversight under FISA. Flake said this approach both threatens the stability of intelligence gathering and increases the likelihood of civil liberties abuse.

You really should read the entire article to get a sense of the battles going on between Bush enablers like Wilson and Rep. John Sensenbrenner and more moderate Repubs like Rep. Jeff Flake. I'll have more on this later as the story develops ....