WASHINGTON, D.C. – During the past 24 hours, more than 26,000 TrueMajority.org members have contacted three U.S. Senators to urge them to stop legislation that would grant immunity to telephone companies guilty of spying on Americans.

TrueMajority.org, the online project of USAction, asked its membership to contact Senators Russ Feingold, D-WI, Chris Dodd, D-CT, and Barack Obama, D-IL, to ask them to put a halt to the legislation. After hearing from tens of thousands of TrueMajority.org members, Feingold and Dodd released a statement saying, “We will oppose efforts to end debate on this bill as long as it provides retroactive immunity for the telecommunications companies.”

“We spoke; they listened,” said Matt Holland, TrueMajority.org online director. “Senators Dodd and Feingold understand that we don’t have to break the law to keep America safe. It doesn’t take secret surveillance to understand that the greatest threat to our liberty comes not from foreign elements but rather from those would undermine the basic principles and values that keep our nation strong.”

At issue is a provision in the proposed extension of FISA, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which grants immunity to telephone companies that intercepted Americans’ domestic phone calls if they received certain clearance from the White House. Problem is, during the past six years the White House has authorized massive, illegal surveillance of Americans.

“The White House guarding our right to privacy is like the fox guarding the hen house,” Holland said. “We’re pleased that Senators Dodds and Feingold are standing up to this inanity. Now it’s time for others in the Senate to join them and remove the immunity provision. Americans just don’t like being spied on.”

Holland added that TrueMajority.org members are now being asked to contact all U.S. Senators and request that the legislation be stopped.

“Just yesterday everyone thought this bill was unstoppable,” Holland said. “We don’t buy that and neither do our members, who are committed, engaged and persistent – and prepared to stand up for democracy.”USAction and TrueMajority.org build power by uniting people locally and nationally, on-the-ground and online, to win a more just and progressive America. We create the nation's leading progressive coalitions, making democracy work by organizing issue and election campaigns to improve people's lives. Members of the media who wish to interview TrueMajority.org Online Director Matt Holland should contact David Elliot at (202) 263-4567.