Wednesday was a difficult day for The American Independent News Network, which is the larger entity that operates The Iowa Independent. Our chief executive and founder announced two of our sister sites would close and their content would be moved to The American Independent.
A recently introduced bill could have far-reaching impact on the U.S. sugar industry, including American Crystal Sugar, a farmer-owned cooperative that locked out 1,300 Midwest workers on Aug. 1.
The chairman for Herman Cain’s Iowa effort says the campaign “relied more on the word of farmers than Washington regulators” in deciding to run an ad containing claims the Environmental Protection Agency says are false.
The Iowa Senate will remain under the control of a slim 26-25 Democratic majority when it reconvenes in January 2012.
Update: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has agreed to withdraw the bill from the floor until the senate reconvenes in January. Dodd spent approximately eight hours on the floor for his filibuster. “Today we have scored a victory for American civil liberties and sent a message to President Bush that we will not tolerate his abuse of power and veil of secrecy,” said Dodd in a statement.
Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd, a Democratic presidential hopeful, won’t be campaigning today in Iowa, New Hampshire or any of the other early states. He won’t be hosting a fundraiser or on a conference call with campaign staff. Today, Dodd will stand on the floor of the United States Senate, for hours if need be, to defend the Constitution and make good on a promise.
If necessary, Dodd will launch a filibuster to ensure telecom immunity is not a part of the re-authorization of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) bill. Dodd has promised to start talking and not stop until he either loses a cloture vote or Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nevada, refuses any bill that contains retroactive immunity for the telecom corporations that provided unmitigated access without warrants to the current White House administration’s program of domestic wiretapping.
Fellow Democratic presidential hopefuls Sens. Joe Biden, Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton have said they will support Dodd’s filibuster; however, calls into their Iowa press offices yielded conflicting answers. Obama’s press office said that the Illinois Senator will not be traveling to Washington, D.C. today to participate in the filibuster. Representatives with the New York Senator said that, at this time, they were unsure if she would be traveling to the Beltway to participate. A request for information from the Delaware Senator’s campaign office in Iowa has gone unanswered.
“There were many who said that they would stand with Chris Dodd as he stood up to the President and for our national security, but they are not there today,” said Hari Sevugan, Dodd communications director. “And that’s disappointing because now is a time for leadership that doesn’t just talk about change but acts on it.”
Dodd has postponed all planned campaign events in Iowa for Monday and Tuesday and is also prepared to offer an amendment that strips the retroactive immunity provision from the underlying bill. If that and other routes fail, Dodd will begin the filibuster.
“Last fall the American people gave this Congress a mandate to change the direction of the country and restore America’s security by ending the war and restoring our Constitution and standing in the world,” Dodd said. “Unfortunately, time and again, Congress has been unable to fulfill that mandate. But our country can no longer afford to continue down that road; we need to restore the Constitution, protect our civil liberties and ensure that no one is above the law. It’s time for us to stand up and lead; not just say ‘enough is enough,’ but act on it.”
Wisconsin Sen. Russ Feingold and Massachusetts Sen. Ted Kennedy will support Dodd during the filibuster. Representatives in Tom Harkin’s office said the Iowa Senator remains undecided on if he will join the filibuster. An inquiry left with Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley’s office has not been returned.
To close debate, opponents of the filibuster will need to gather 60 votes. This means at least 10 Democratic Senators will need to join with Republicans in order to bring an end to Dodd’s filibuster.
Because Dodd will need material to read while on the Senate floor — during a filibuster he will not be allowed to stop talking or take a break — both Crooks and Liars and firedoglake are taking comments that will be forwarded to Dodd’s Senate office and, if necessary, read on the floor. Comments may also be left on the Chris Dodd for President website. In addition, several blogs have teamed up to show their support of Dodd and his efforts to launch the filibuster.
In addition to his reading, Dodd will be able to take “questions” from others, but such questions are limited to 20 minutes. It is believed that Kennedy and Feingold will be participating in this exercise.
Senator Dodd was the first presidential candidate to speak out against the FISA legislation that was passed out of the Intelligence Committee, announcing that he would place a hold on any bill that reached the floor including retroactive immunity, and would filibuster that bill if his hold was not respected. Dodd began urging Senators on the Judiciary Committee, who would have the chance to consider the measure as well, to oppose the immunity provision. The Committee later passed out a bill without the retroactive immunity. Unfortunately, that bill is not the one considered on the Senate floor.
“You don’t demonstrate leadership in the footnotes of a press release, or parroting responses from focus groups,” said Dodd’s Director of Media Technologies Tim Tagaris in an email to supporters. “Leadership is demonstrated through action.”
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