You Made It Happen
The ACLU Washington Legislative Office

Without you, there would be a freedom-stealing, Constitution-defying FISA bill on George W. Bush's desk right now.

Why didn't it happen? Because you refused to let it happen.
Together, we've been persistent and insistent on a constitutional fix to the FISA bill and it has paid off.

We beat back the fear mongering. With your help, we delivered 215,000 petition signatures, sent 800,000 emails and faxes and made over 200,000 phone calls -- all to Congress. You've sent thousands of letters to the editor and helped us run full-page ads in national newspapers and radio spots that aired across the country.

We've also brought together a broad coalition of organizations to further increase the pressure on Congress. And we reached out to blogs, who mobilized their readers to take action on this critical issue.

As a result, the House passed legislation that -- thankfully -- was a far cry from the blank check that Bush demanded so strenuously. While we have concerns about certain aspects of the House bill, it was a clear rejection of President Bush's fear mongering, and his demands that Congress rubberstamp unchecked, unaccountable wiretapping on U.S. soil while letting telecommunications companies that facilitated years of illegal surveillance off the hook. To read more about the House legislation, go here: http://action.aclu.org/site/R?i=WbFXq5bXiHeRllaUErmJrQ..

This fight isn't over yet -- a long struggle yet remains to keep a new FISA bill off the books. But that fight is now extended for several more weeks and the reason we're still in the game is because of all of you. So today, we wanted to say "thank you" from the bottom of our hearts. You're the best and we're really proud to work for you and with you.

In deep appreciation,

Anthony, Caroline, Michael, Timothy, Michelle, Michael, Jeani, Kelly, Immanuel, Elizabeth, Amanda and the whole FISA team in the ACLU Washington Legislative Office