is there any reason at all for democrats to cooperate with the white house in expanding the executive branch's surveillance authority when the president won't even tell congress what the current scope is?
congress and the white house are in this deadlock because the president refuses to acknowledge congress' oversight authority on these matters. the president is calling everything privileged and refusing to tell congress about all of the surveillance programs under its oversight jurisdiction except for the one that already leaked.
meanwhile, the president wants congress to amend FISA to legalize warrantless surveillance of "transit traffic."1 so congress wants something from the president and the president wants something from congress. the solution seems to be rather obvious.
but i guess it's not obvious enough for congress, which is simply in the process of caving in to the president's demands. what a bunch of weenies.
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1- i'm putting aside the question of whether the FISA amendment is even a good idea. personally, i think it's not. but that's another post.
