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"In early July, Grayson had staffers distribute to House members several slides published by the Guardian about NSA programs as part of Grayson's efforts to tri

"In early July, Grayson had staffers distribute to House members several slides published by the Guardian about NSA programs as part of Grayson's efforts to trigger debate in Congress. But, according to one staff member, Grayson's office was quickly told by the House Intelligence Committee that those slides were still classified, despite having been published and discussed in the media, and directed Grayson to cease distribution or discussion of those materials in the House, warning that he could face sanctions if he continued." Well, since we're having a merry old time stomping all over the Constitution, I suppose asking what ramifications could possibly befall this Representative, considering the "Speech and Debate" immunity provided under Article 1, Section 6 of our allegedly-cherished Constitution, is a moot point. This is why it's probably best that I'm not in Congress, since I'd like to think that my response would have been "so?", followed by my continuing to press the issue. Sens. Wyden and Udall didn't take such a course, so I assume the consequences would have been dramatic.

gizmo686 13y ago
The Speech and Debate clause: "and for any speech or debate in either House, they shall not be questioned in any other place." The House Intelligence Committee is part of the house, so they are allowed to penalize Congressmen for speech.
- techsupporter 13y ago
  You're right, though I wasn't thinking of penalties outside of Congress. Congress can only go so far as to expel a member, right, or can they put a sitting Representative up for impeachment? Assuming they can, I suspect the fallout from that would be...impressive.
  - sseveran 13y ago
    More likely is that the party leadership would not let them on any of the important committees. Or they may via backchannels fund a primary challenger.
deleted 13y ago
[deleted]
redcircle 13y ago
An obstacle for Wyden and Udall to use their immunity to leak info is that they would be evicted from the Intelligence Committee as punishment.
Buttons840 13y ago
Where is the StackOverflow for upcoming bills? There should be a simple site (which I may have to make myself) where people can vote on bills they think are important and draw attention to them. For the uninvolved citizen, they could visit the site and see that [something like] SOAP 2.0 is voted most important to watch. They could then cast their own disproving vote for the bill, which the site would track so that come election time a notice such as "Senator John votes in accordance with your votes 20% of the time." The user could easily express their opinions, the site would remember their opinions, and would tell the user when their representatives did not represent them. Personally, I don't know what bills are important, and even if I did I wouldn't remember how my Senator voted 5 years from now when he's up for reelection.
- cavilling_elite 13y ago
  opencongress.org exists. but that doesn't mean that Congress looks at it.
  - hga 13y ago
    Congress doesn't have to look at it, enough voters have to look at it. This is what political parties and eeeevil special interest groups that are powerful through the votes they influence do. In the case I'm most familiar with, the NRA's political lobbying arm (and eeeevil 501(c)(4)) grades politicians, and will send out alerts for the more important elections (as well as actions on bills). Many former politicians who were send back home to spend more time with their families in part due to NRA and general gun owner action can attest to the effectiveness of this. The same could happen in this area, the first vote on it was extremely encouraging.
- jdp23 13y ago
  That would be Popvox: https://www.popvox.com/ https://www.popvox.com/
  - hga 13y ago
    Here's their entry on the Amash amendment: https://www.popvox.com/bills/us/113/hamdt101 https://www.popvox.com/bills/us/113/hamdt101 I found it through their June 25th "Top 20" list, which shows no particular bias as far as I can tell: http://www.popvox.com/blog/2013/roundup-8-1-2013/ http://www.popvox.com/blog/2013/roundup-8-1-2013/ Their curated "Issue Spotlight: Firearms and Gun Control" looks honest to me: http://www.popvox.com/blog/2013/issue-spotlight-firearms-113th/ http://www.popvox.com/blog/2013/issue-spotlight-firearms-113...

gizmo686 13y ago

The Speech and Debate clause: "and for any speech or debate in either House, they shall not be questioned in any other place." The House Intelligence Committee is part of the house, so they are allowed to penalize Congressmen for speech.

techsupporter 13y ago
You're right, though I wasn't thinking of penalties outside of Congress. Congress can only go so far as to expel a member, right, or can they put a sitting Representative up for impeachment? Assuming they can, I suspect the fallout from that would be...impressive.
- sseveran 13y ago
  More likely is that the party leadership would not let them on any of the important committees. Or they may via backchannels fund a primary challenger.

deleted 13y ago

[deleted]

redcircle 13y ago

An obstacle for Wyden and Udall to use their immunity to leak info is that they would be evicted from the Intelligence Committee as punishment.

Buttons840 13y ago

Where is the StackOverflow for upcoming bills? There should be a simple site (which I may have to make myself) where people can vote on bills they think are important and draw attention to them. For the uninvolved citizen, they could visit the site and see that [something like] SOAP 2.0 is voted most important to watch. They could then cast their own disproving vote for the bill, which the site would track so that come election time a notice such as "Senator John votes in accordance with your votes 20% of the time." The user could easily express their opinions, the site would remember their opinions, and would tell the user when their representatives did not represent them. Personally, I don't know what bills are important, and even if I did I wouldn't remember how my Senator voted 5 years from now when he's up for reelection.

cavilling_elite 13y ago
opencongress.org exists. but that doesn't mean that Congress looks at it.
- hga 13y ago
  Congress doesn't have to look at it, enough voters have to look at it. This is what political parties and eeeevil special interest groups that are powerful through the votes they influence do. In the case I'm most familiar with, the NRA's political lobbying arm (and eeeevil 501(c)(4)) grades politicians, and will send out alerts for the more important elections (as well as actions on bills). Many former politicians who were send back home to spend more time with their families in part due to NRA and general gun owner action can attest to the effectiveness of this. The same could happen in this area, the first vote on it was extremely encouraging.
jdp23 13y ago
That would be Popvox: https://www.popvox.com/ https://www.popvox.com/
- hga 13y ago
  Here's their entry on the Amash amendment: https://www.popvox.com/bills/us/113/hamdt101 https://www.popvox.com/bills/us/113/hamdt101 I found it through their June 25th "Top 20" list, which shows no particular bias as far as I can tell: http://www.popvox.com/blog/2013/roundup-8-1-2013/ http://www.popvox.com/blog/2013/roundup-8-1-2013/ Their curated "Issue Spotlight: Firearms and Gun Control" looks honest to me: http://www.popvox.com/blog/2013/issue-spotlight-firearms-113th/ http://www.popvox.com/blog/2013/issue-spotlight-firearms-113...