Today, the House will consider the
House amendment to the Senate amendment to H.R. 3773, to amend the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 to establish a procedure for authorizing certain acquisitions of foreign intelligence, and for other purposes. The revised House legislation to amend FISA grants new authorities for conducting electronic surveillance against foreign targets while preserving the requirement that the government obtain an individualized FISA court order, based on probable cause, when targeting Americans at home or abroad. The House bill also strongly enhances oversight of the Administration's surveillance activities. Finally, the House bill does not provide retroactive immunity for telecom companies but allows the courts to determine whether lawsuits should proceed.
Read more on the FISA Amendments Act in our current legislation section >>
| Rep. Michael Arcuri (NY-24): "Finally, our proposal establishes a bipartisan national commission with subpoena power to investigate and report to the American people on the Administration's warrantless surveillance activities and to recommend procedues and protections for the future, in much the same way that the 9/11 Commission did. Mr. Speaker, we must bring the misinformation campaign and the partisan wrangling to an end..." |
| Rep. Joe Sestak (PA-07): "But the real differences come down to what I think is important, because every day I was out there for 31 years in the military, I wasn't just fighting an enemy, or trying to deter him. I was fighting for an ideal. The ideal of which America's founded upon. The rights of civil rights. And therefore I honestly believe what we have done with the telecommunication companies and discussing immunity should be done by the proper branch of government, the judicial branch... In short, I will never forget being over there again in charge of my carrier battle group, fighting in Afghanistan, that what I was fighting for was security number one, properly balanced with civil rights. And this bill does do that. I wouldn't vote for it any other way unless it did." |
| Rep. Rush Holt (NJ-12): "It rejects the President's efforts to redefine the relationship between the people and their government. A very key point. I commend the Speaker, the Leader, the Chair of the Judiciary Committee, the Chair of the Intelligence Committee for negotiating with a firm tone and a principled approach to give us very good legislation, a very good bill, despite the fact that they have had to work with the relentless drumbeat of propaganda and disinformation orchestrated by the Administration. I commend them for producing such good legislation in such difficult circumstances." |
| < | Rep. Jerrold Nadler (NY-08): "So then we said, because 'catastrophe will happen' according to the President and the Republicans if we go home without passing the Senate bill, we'll extend the Protect America Act for three weeks so we can come back and deal with this. Who voted it down? The Republicans. They said 'no, don't extend it,' the President said he'd veto an extension. So let's not hear any remarks on this floor from that side about how we're dark because the act expired. It expired because they made it expire... We have to make sure that our Constitutional rights and liberties are protected so that this country, which we have all defended and we all want to defend, remains worthy of being defended by defending our own liberties. Remember why we enacted protections in the first place. Because the administration at the time wiretapped Martin Luther King. We don't want that to happen again by a future administration." |
| Rep. Leonard Boswell (IA-03): "So yes, I like 20 others, signed a letter of concern. By the way, it was not a Blue Dog letter, a Blue Dog position but individuals, some of whom were Blue Dogs. Over the course of past weeks, a crdit to Chairman Reyes and Chairman Conyers and our super staff, an acceptable solution has been found. It makes FISA -- supports FISA and gives protection to those who assist within the provisions of the law. For example, those who feel their civil rights have been violated can seek justice and telecoms who feel they have complied with the law, a judge can review the classified evidence and decide. This means to me that the Constitution and civil rights are protected and telecoms who are asked under pressure to assist in an emergency can know that classified evidence will be seen by a judge... The bill provides telecom companies a way to present their defense in secure proceedings in a district court without the administration using state secrets to block the defense. A company simply doing its duty following the law, this bill ensures they they will not be punished and I urge everyone who signed the letter with me to support this resolution." |
| Rep. Jane Harman (CA-36): "My oldest grandchild, Lucy, is 2 today. She, and my other two grandchildren and my four children are never out of my thoughts as I wrestle with what are the right and wise security policies to protect our country. I served six years on the Armed Services Committee, eight on the Intelligence Committee and four on the Homeland Security Committee where I chair its Intelligence Subcommittee. I received so-called 'Gang of 8' briefings on the operational details of the terrorist surveillance program from 2003 to 2006 and I regularly receive classified threat briefings... press accounts, especially Monday's story in the Wall Street Journal make clear there are other programs out there that haven't been told to Congress, we can't pass retroactive immunity when we don't know what we're talking about. So, happy birthday, Lucy. May you grow up in a country with security and liberty. Passing the bill before us is a good start." |
| Rep. Barbara Lee (CA-09): "Now let me tell you, I know from personal experience about wiretaps during the J. Edgar Hoover period and the unwarranted domestic surveillance and wiretapping as a result of the COINTELPRO program. This COINTELPRO program, many innocent people, their lives were destroyed, personal information was gathered from innocent people. Yes, including myself. Who were no threats to national security. Dr. King and his family were the victims of government-sponsored wiretapping. We must never go down this road again. So I fully support this bill because it explicitly declares that the FISA court is the soul authority for electronic surveillance, it prohibits this reverse targeting, it also makes sure that we do not provide retroactive immunity to telecom companies that participated in any illegal spying by this administration." |