Washington is full of 4-year olds!
posted by
Clyde
6:03 AM
Sometimes I think they do this shit just to piss us off! What contract or agreement doesn't have a clearly defined date of completion? Was vacation SO important that they could not say this ended at this hour, on this day, of this month, during this year?
The Other FISA Debate
Amid the titanic fight last week over the expiration of the terrorist surveillance law, there was another, less intense debate brewing below the surface.
This wasn't your standard Republican vs. Democrat debate. It cut across all lines, pitting executive branch agencies against each other, prompting disagreements among lawmakers of the same party, even (gasp!) dividing reporters. This fight wasn't over whether the expiration of the Protect America Act put the country in danger. It was over when the thing actually expired.
First, some background: Congress passed the PAA in early August as a temporary step in the process of modernizing the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. The bill included language saying it "shall cease to have effect 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act." That meant it expired Feb. 1, and in late January, Congress passed and President Bush signed a 15-day extension of the law.
So when did that extension expire? And if the expiration itself was so monumentally important, why didn't anyone seem to know the answer?
(Incredible)
Permalink
::
1 comments
::
|
