File #: Res 0232-2006    Version: * Name: Supporting Senator Russell Feingold’s call for the censure of President Bush for his domestic wiretapping program.
Type: Resolution Status: Filed
Committee: Committee on State and Federal Legislation
On agenda: 4/5/2006
Enactment date: Law number:
Title: Resolution supporting Senator Russell Feingold’s call for the censure of President George Bush for his domestic wiretapping program.
Sponsors: David Yassky, Charles Barron, Helen D. Foster, Letitia James, John C. Liu, Melissa Mark-Viverito, Rosie Mendez, Larry B. Seabrook
Council Member Sponsors: 8

Res. No. 232

 

Resolution supporting Senator Russell Feingold’s call for the censure of President George Bush for his domestic wiretapping program.

 

By Council Members Yassky, Barron, Foster, James, Liu, Mark-Viverito, Mendez and Seabrook

 

Whereas, Individual privacy rights and the strict regulation of the government’s ability to invade the homes and monitor the private communications of all Americans for law enforcement purposes are fundamental principles of the American judicial system; and

Whereas, On December 16, 2005, the New York Times published an article revealing that in 2002, President George Bush signed an order directing the National Security Agency to initiate an undisclosed number of wiretaps of international telephone calls placed from within the United States and to monitor e-mails sent from within the United States without legally obtaining appropriate warrants; and

                     Whereas, The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 authorizes the Government to immediately begin wiretaps during an emergency, provided that warrants for these wiretaps are granted by secret proceedings in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court; and

Whereas, According to Senate Resolution 398, on April 20, 2004, and again on July 14, 2004 and June 9, 2005, President Bush misled the public by stating that the Federal Government would not conduct wiretaps without court orders; and

                     Whereas, When the President made these statements he was fully aware that the National Security Agency, with his approval, was in fact conducting numerous wiretaps without court orders; and

                     Whereas, After the New York Times disclosed the existence of the program, President Bush admitted that his domestic surveillance program was conducted without approval from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court; and

Whereas, A wide array of public figures in the United States, including former Vice President Al Gore, have loudly condemned the President’s program; and

Whereas, Senator Russell Feingold of Wisconsin has introduced a resolution into the United States Senate calling upon the Senate to censure President Bush because of his actions; and

                     Whereas, It is clear that the President of the United States authorized a domestic surveillance program in violation of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 and intentionally misled the American public about the existence of the program; now, therefore, be it

                     Resolved, That the Council of the City of New York supports Senator Russell Feingold’s call for the censure of President George Bush for his domestic wiretapping program.

 

LS# 602

3/29/06

JN