Politics

House Passes FISA Amendments Act

By Jesse Lee

The House has just passed 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, by a vote of 213-197-1. 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 >>

Watch highlights of the debate >>

Extended transcript:

Speaker Pelosi:?Why would the Administration oppose a judicial determination of whether the companies already have immunity? There are at least three explanations:

?First, the President knows that it was the Administration?s incompetence in failing to follow the procedures in statute that prevented immunity from being conveyed ? that?s one possibility. They simply didn?t do it right. Second, the Administration?s legal argument that the surveillance requests were lawfully authorized was wrong; or public reports that the surveillance activities undertaken by the companies went far beyond anything about which any Member of Congress was notified, as is required by the law.

?None of these alternatives is attractive but they clearly demonstrate why the Administration?s insistence that Congress provide retroactive immunity has never been about national security or about concerns for the companies; it has always been about protecting the Administration.?

Read Speaker Pelosi’s full speech: (more…)

Full post as published by The Gavel on March 14, 2008 (boomark / email).