"By a vote of 227 to 183, American's saw their rights eroded further at the hands of their elected officials." This is not the headline you will see in any newspaper or on CNN or any network. Congress passed another ill-named law-- Protect America Act--yesterday while Iowans were enjoying tax free back-to-school shopping. With the exception of Dave Loebsack and Bruce Braley who voted against the bill, the Iowa delegation let it happen.
So what did we lose? The government can solicit our phone records records from any telecom without a seeking a warrant,
legally.
The administration legislation would allow the NSA warrantless access to virtually all international communications of Americans with anyone outside the US, so long as the government declared that the surveillance was directed at people, which includes foreigners and citizens, reasonably believed to be located outside the US, a definition that covers billions of people.
The only saving grace about the bill sunsets in six months unless acted on by Congress.
However, the sunset has an exception that would allow any directives by Attorney General Gonzales and Director of National Intelligence McConnell that commandeer access to US telephone and internet companies to remain in effect until their expiration (which is likely to be until the end of the administration since the directives can be issued for up to one year, so could be issued to last for the next six months and then reissued on the eve of the sunset, in January 2008, to remain in effect until this administration is finally over in January 2009).
For more about the details of the PAA, see this document from the Bill of Rights Defense Committee
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