Fact Sheets

On Leading the Effort to Create and Extend the Office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR)

For over three years, U.S. Senator Russ Feingold has led the effort to create and extend the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR.) The SIGIR serves as a watchdog over the billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars allocated for Iraq reconstruction. The SIGIR's office has been effective in its role, uncovering a wide range of problems relating to the waste, fraud and abuse of U.S. taxpayer funds in Iraq.

Senator Specter's NSA Wiretapping Bill Still a Failure

A new version of the Senator Specter’s S.2453, the National Security Surveillance Act, was introduced in the Senate on Friday, September 22. But the changes to the bill do nothing to address its core problems, and in some ways make it worse. Here are some of the ways that the new version of Senator Specter’s bill still fails:

U.S. Senator Russ Feingold’s Record on Jobs and Trade

Throughout his Senate career, U.S. Senator Russ Feingold has been a strong advocate for Wisconsin’s working families. His comprehensive efforts to prevent the outsourcing of American jobs by opposing flawed trade agreements, encouraging the purchasing of American-made goods, and helping displaced workers retrain in growing fields to compete in a new job market include the following.

Gulf Coast Housing Accessibility Act of 2006

Senator Feingold has announced that he will introduce, the Gulf Coast Housing Accessibility Act, a bill that seeks to provide immediate and long-term housing assistance to the victims of last year’s hurricanes that devastated the Gulf Coast, as well as future disaster victims.

Presidential Funding Act of 2006

Senator Feingold and Representatives Shays and Meehan have introduced bills in the House and Senate to reform the presidential public funding system. This bill would take effect for the 2008 election.

State-Based Health Care Reform Act

U.S. Senator Russ Feingold will introduce the State-Based Health Care Reform Act in order to end the political stalemate in Congress that has been preventing meaningful health coverage from being enacted.

Wiretapping Agreement: Not as Advertised

A review of Senator Specter’s legislation shows why the President would agree to this “compromise” – because it gives him even more power than he has asserted under his illegal NSA wiretapping program, based on public descriptions of that program. What’s more, as Senator Specter has emphasized, the President will only agree to judicial review of the NSA program if these broad new authorities – and every aspect of the bill – remain unchanged.

527 Reform Act

Senators McCain, Feingold and Lott have introduced the 527 Reform Act to close the 527 loophole. The 527 Reform Act is designed to clarify and reaffirm that such 527 groups are required to comply with federal campaign finance laws

Patriot Act

The White House has agreed to only a few minor changes to the Patriot Act conference report – the same report that could not get through the Senate back in December. These changes do not address the major problems with the Patriot Act that a bipartisan coalition has been trying to fix for the past several years. Senator Feingold strongly opposes this deal, and any reauthorization of the Patriot Act that does not protect the rights and freedoms of law-abiding Americans with no connection to terrorism.

Warrantless Domestic Wiretaps

Senator Feingold and members of Congress from both parties have expressed deep concern about the President authorizing the National Security Agency (NSA) to wiretap American citizens on American soil without a warrant. The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) makes it a crime to wiretap Americans in the United States without a warrant or a court order.

Censure

Senator Feingold’s resolution of censure condemns the President for breaking the law by authorizing an illegal wiretapping program, and for misleading Congress and the American people about the existence and legality of that program.