January 30, 2008
Both Houses Approve Short FISA Extension
The House and Senate approved legislation yesterday to extend a law authorizing electronic surveillance activities for 15 days beyond Friday's scheduled expiration.
The extension, which passed the House by voice vote and the Senate by unanimous consent, is intended to buy time for lawmakers to craft permanent legislation that would overhaul and reauthorize the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.
In the Senate, Democrats and Republicans were still arguing over how to deal with amendments to the Senate Intelligence Committee's FISA reauthorization bill.
"This extension will give us time to consider responsible FISA reform in both houses of the Congress while fully preserving current intelligence capabilities while we do so," said House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers, D-Mich.
The White House indicated yesterday it would agree to the short extension after having threatened to veto an initial proposal by House Democrats for 30 extra days. The law was enacted in August to permit continued surveillance operations for six months -- long enough, lawmakers thought, to pass a long-term FISA bill.
At presstime, Senate Democrats and Republicans were still looking to strike a deal over amendments.
"We have not been able to . . . get a clear way of going forward," said Senate Intelligence ranking member Christopher "Kit" Bond, R-Mo. "That's why we are stuck. We're waiting to find a reasonable manner of proceeding."
Republicans were insisting that controversial amendments need 60 votes to pass the Senate. They argued that Democrats were seeking to offer too many amendments that would fundamentally change the underlying bill, making it unacceptable to them and President Bush.
Two of the most contentious amendments would alter a provision in the Intelligence Committee bill that would give retroactive legal immunity to telecommunications companies that helped the administration conduct warrantless electronic surveillance on U.S. citizens dating to September 2001. The companies face about 40 lawsuits.
An amendment from Senate Judiciary ranking member Arlen Specter, R-Pa., and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., would allow the secret FISA court to replace the government for the companies as the defendant in the lawsuits.
A different amendment from Sens. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and Bill Nelson, D-Fla., would allow the FISA court to decide if the telecommunications firms should be granted outright immunity.
The White House and congressional Republicans want the companies to have immunity without having to obtain a FISA court ruling. They also want a permanent FISA reform bill.
"Congress has a responsibility to enact long-term legislation that allows intelligence officials to conduct surveillance on foreign targets without a court order," said House Judiciary ranking member Lamar Smith, R-Texas.
"Second, Congress must provide liability protection to U.S. telecommunication companies that responded to government requests for information following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11."
House Democrats pushed through a FISA bill in the fall that would not give the companies retroactive legal immunity.
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., said members of the House Intelligence and Judiciary committees need more time to review documents from the White House and Justice Department underlying the administration's warrantless electronic surveillance activities to determine if the companies should be given immunity.
The White House, Hoyer said, did not provide those documents to the committees until last week.
-Chris Strohm, CongressDaily
Posted at 7:47 AM
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Congress, House, Senate
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