Progress Illinois

This morning, the House passed The FISA Amendment Act of 2008 by a vote of 293-129. Authored by House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, it was billed as a bipartisan compromise. The Media Consortium's Brian Beutler writes that while it certainly did garner support from both sides of the aisle, calling it a compromise "is a total farce." Salon's Glenn Greenwald agrees. Mark Agrast at the Center for American Progress has more:

Nevertheless, despite these welcome improvements, the bill fails at the most fundamental level to restore the independent judicial check on executive power that the Bush administration has done so much to undermine. Now, instead of determining whether probable cause exists for the issuance of a surveillance order, the FISA Court will be reduced to reviewing the adequacy of the surveillance procedures established by the Bush administration. Instead of evaluating the sufficiency of the assurances that were given to telecommunications companies to obtain their cooperation, the federal district courts in which the lawsuits against the companies have been filed will be authorized to do little more than determine whether such assurances were in fact provided.

Unfortunately, four members of Illinois' Democratic congressional delegation voted in favor of the measure -- Melissa Bean (8th), Rahm Emanuel (5th), Dan Lipinski (3rd), and Luis Gutierrez (4th).

But praise is in order for Democrats Phil Hare (17th), Jesse Jackson Jr. (2nd), Jan Schakowsky (9th), Danny Davis (7th), Jerry Costello (12th), and newcomer Bill Foster (14th), all of whom voted to ensure the civil liberties of Illinoisans.

Yesterday, Rep. Jan Schakowsky put forth an amendment to strip funding for the security contractor Blackwater Worldwide from the Iraq supplemental funding bill. From her House floor statement on the measure:

Everyone knows about the horrible incidents involving Blackwater opening fire on innocent civilians last September in Nisour Square, about a Blackwater employee killing the Iraqi Vice President’s guard, about Blackwater releasing poisonous gas on a crowded intersection in Baghdad. Nothing has been done in response to these incidents.

And these incidents have damaged our already-tattered image in the eyes of the Iraqi people. They have irreparably harmed our relationship with the Iraqi government. Prime Minister Maliki attempted to revoke Blackwater’s license to operate in Iraq in 2007, and last month he said that Blackwater has “massacred”—that’s his word—Iraqi civilians.

Despite the extremely serious nature of each of the incidents Blackwater has been involved in, not one investigation has been completed. And despite the existence of so many ongoing investigations into Blackwater’s actions, both possible criminal actions and abuse of the tax code, the State Department renewed Blackwater’s contract last month. [...]

We cannot continue to allow Blackwater to run roughshod over the law and jeopardize the safety, security and well-being of the U.S. military and the Iraqi people.

For more on Schakowsky's thoughts about the Iraq war, check out part two of her interview with Faithfully Liberal's Aaron Krager.

Faithfully Liberal's Aaron Krager just posted a segment of his recent interview with Rep. Jan Schakowsky. You can watch it here. In this first video, Krager and Schakowsky discuss faith and religion in politics. Subsequent segments will feature a discussion of the Iraq war, poverty, and the 2008 election. So be sure to check his site for updates.

On the House floor yesterday, Rep. Jan Schakowsky lambasted the State Department's decision to renew Blackwater's contract to provide security services in Iraq. Here's her statement:

Last Friday, the State Department decided to renew Blackwater's $1.2 billion contract for another year.

It has been over six months since Blackwater contractors killed 17 innocent Iraqi civilians, 16 months since the Christmas Eve murder in the Green Zone, and 35 months since a Blackwater helicopter dropped CS gas on a traffic jam in Baghdad.

Yet, there have been no arrests, no charges, no trials, no convictions…Nothing

The Department of Justice, the FBI and the State Department have remained completely silent about those investigations.

Meanwhile, those contractors are still working side-by-side with our troops in Iraq.

But what is even more appalling is that our government has ignored those abuses and renewed Blackwater’s contract.

If you owned a company, would you rehire someone who has killed dozens of innocent people?

The State Department’s decision not only puts the lives of innocent Iraqi civilians at risk, but it threatens the safety of our troops and jeopardizes our mission in Iraq.

You can find video of her statement here.

Rep. Schakowsky is the sponsor of a bill -- HR 4102 -- that "would begin phasing out the use of private security contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan."

But House Democrats aren't the only ones unhappy about the renewal of Blackwater's contract -- high-ranking Iraq officials are also upset about the news.

Rep. Jan Schakowsky says she knows of "at least eight" superdelegates who plan on voting for Barack Obama at the Democratic National Convention, but have not yet made their decisions public. Schakowsky, an Obama supporter, brought up these undeclared (but apparently already decided) members of Congress in a City Desk interview with NBC5's Carol Marin that taped on Friday and aired yesterday:

MARIN: Are there a lot of really intense conversations in the halls of Congress with you and superdelegates who haven’t made a commitment yet? I mean, are those pretty rigorous conversations with colleagues?

SCHAKOWSKY: Well, I mean, they're usually one-on-one conversations. And no, we know our friends and our colleagues so we try and look for the right buttons to push. But look, some people have reasons locally that they’re not endorsing for their own races, everybody's up in the House of Representatives. But I do know, I would say, at least eight of my colleagues who will vote for Barack Obama at the convention. It’s just a question of whether or not -- or when -- they come out and say it.

At current count Clinton has the support of 249 superdelegates, Obama has 223 (not including Schakowsky's "eight or so") and 257 are undeclared.

Elsewhere in the interview, Schakowsky spoke about infighting between Democrats in Springfield, the impact of the Iraq War on the presidential race, and her husband, author and activist (and Progress Illinois contributor) Bob Creamer.