Letter from a Congressman

On September 29, I sent an email to various of my congresscritters, urging them to act against "extraordinary rendition" (ref: here) and to be cautious on my account in their review of any legislation based on the findings and recommendations of the 9/11 Commission. I have today received a response from Congressman Tom Allen, which I am reproducing below in the belief that a letter from an elected representative to a constituent in response to that constituent's expressed concerns is a public document.
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October 18, 2004

[Street Address Deleted]

Dear Ms. Lee:

Thank you for contacting me about the intelligence reform bill. I appreciate hearing from you.

Following the report and the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission, Congress was given the task of putting those recommendations into law in order to improve the intelligence gathering and analysis process and make other reforms to prevent future terrorist attacks. The 9/11 Commission did a thorough, professional and refreshingly bipartisan job of research and analysis. I read the 9/11 Commission report and concluded that its recommendations should be enacted swiftly by Congress and the President.

In October 2004, both the House and Senate took up separate versions of the legislation. The Senate bill largely tracks the 9/11 Commission recommendations. It was developed by senators on the Governmental Affairs Committee on a bipartisan basis. The bill (H.R. 10) considered by the House, however, was drafted by House Republican leaders who excluded Democrats from participation. Their bill fully adopts only 11 of the Commission's 41 recommendations, and includes more than 50 extraneous provisions that were not part of the Commission's proposal.

When the House considered the bill on October 8, I voted twice for amendments to replace the inadequate House bill with the Senate version that encompassed the 9/11 Commission recommendations and was preferred by the Bush Administration. Both measures were defeated by the Republican majority. I voted against the unmodified H.R. 10 because it lacked necessary reform measures and included unjustified add-ons. If the House had adopted either of the amendments to match the bill to the Senate version, the intelligence reform bill would already be on its way to the President to be signed into law. Unfortunately, the House Republican leadership's approach will delay reforms the 9/11 Commission says are needed to protect the United States.

Among the objectionable provisions added to H.R. 10 was one to create a new national database of driver's license and birth certificate records without providing for privacy protections. It also sets strict nationwide standards for issuing a drivers license, which, when combined with the national database, comes dangerously close to mandating a national identification card. The bill also expands the USA PATRIOT Act by permitting the Justice Department to conduct secret surveillance under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), even if the suspect cannot be tied to a terrorist organization or a foreign nation. I believe that these provisions unreasonably infringe on civil liberties, and I do not trust Attorney General John Ashcroft to use even the authority he already has with wisdom and discretion. None of these expansions of the USA PATRIOT Act were recommended by the 9/11 Commission.

The House leadership bill also included several controversial immigration provisions, including measures to create new barriers for asylum-seekers, subject immigrants with less than five years in the country to deportation without a hearing, prohibit the acceptance of secure foreign identification documents, and limit access to judicial review. H.R. 10 also includes a provision that could make it easier to deport certain detained aliens to nations where they are likely to face interrogation under torture. The 9/11 Commission Co-Chairs urged that this provision be deleted, and I signed a letter to House and Senate conferees asking them to strike this language from the final bill.

I hope that Congress can re-convene as quickly as possible in order to finalize the intelligence reform bill. I believe that a final bill that most closely resembles the one passed by the Senate and favored by the President, rather than the House bill, has the best chance of becoming law and being effective.

Again, thank you for contacting me. I hope you will continue to contact me on issues of importance to you.

Sincerely,

Tom Allen
Member of Congress

Accessory before the fact

We feed the birds off our deck. It's one of those pleasant, harmless things that one does, and while there are hunting cats on the gore -- and sometimes on our deck -- they don't seem very able birders, though Scruffy has a very deft touch with a chipmunk.

This evening -- mere moments ago -- Scruffy nailed the upside-down bird (this would a "nuthatch" to the wider universe). I like most of the birds who come to the feeder (with the sort of general benevolence one feels for the gentle creatures of air and wood when they're not actually doing something destructive), but the nuthatch was my favorite. He would hang upside down from the wooden bird feeder and pull seeds out one at a time; he would stroll the deck stakes, unconcernedly perpendicular. He had a perpetual air of unassailable and faintly ridiculous dignity. He made me laugh.

And if we didn't make a habit of feeding the birds off the deck, he wouldn't have been in harm's way today.

I feel like a murderer.