Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD), the House Majority Leader, postponed a press conference announcing new reforms of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act after progressive lawmakers banded together and said they would fight any legislation that did not include a set of eight principles on wiretapping that preserve the "rule of law."
"What's most significant is that the Progressive Caucus came together and said to the leadership that all 72 of us require that these provisions be included," said Caroline Fredercikson, Legislative Director for the American Civil Liberties Union. "This changes the dynamic significantly."
Rep. Hoyer had planned to roll out the new FISA reform bill at 1:30 PM today. A spokesperson from his office told the Huffington Post that the House Intelligence Committee had decided to postpone completion of the legislation, though it's not clear that the letter from the Progressive Caucus influenced their decision. Votes in the House were also canceled today. The committee was not available at press time.
The ACLU said it had not been briefed on the nature of the reforms that the Democratic leadership was preparing to get behind.
This is a three part system. One, the freshmen are saying that they don't want this bill, which hurts the leadership argument that they are doing this to 'protect' the freshmen. Two, the progressive caucus is unified and aggressive against a bill that does not actually fix the problem. That's significant, since the caucus tends to be fractious. Three, the Democratic leadership is watching the ACLU's new-found alliance with the blogger activist community and getting nervous at the unpredictable nature of a potential response.
It's fascinating to be a part of this debate. The power of ideas and organization is substantial.
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