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Surveillance Bill Debate Continues
The Senate is back at it this morning, and pretty soon, the House is expected to hold a vote on a 30-day extension to the Protect America Act.
Things are too fluid right now to tell what will happen next, but we'll keep you updated.
A transcript of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's (D-NV) brief remarks to open debate is below.
Yesterday, the Senate decided against cutting off debate on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Amendments Act, so that we can continue debating it today.We need to consider amendments to the bill. That was the message of last night's vote. Democrats have about a dozen relevant amendments we would like to offer.
The managers of the bill are continuing their discussions, and I will work with the Minority Leader throughout the day to reach an agreement for moving forward.
In the meantime, we should extend current law for a short time while we work on the longer-term bill. The House will consider a bill today to extend the Protect America Act for several weeks.
If the House passes an extension, the Senate will consider it prior to the law's expiration date.
But it is important to remember that even if we do not extend current law, existing surveillance orders will remain in effect for an additional year.
That said – we should work together to responsibly extend the current law, so that there is no interruption whatsoever in the nation's intelligence gathering capacity.
Our ultimate goal is to provide the intelligence community with all the legal tools it needs, while protecting the privacy of law abiding Americans. We will continue to work toward that goal, and we continue to reach out to our friends across the aisle in order to do so.
Comments (5)
brian wrote on January 29, 2008 12:00 PM:The main purpose of wire taps is ALWAYS for snooping on political opponents.
Cheney stilll needs to snoop and eavesdrop on people he considers enemies. Rove is gone, allegedly, but he sure needed the capability.
The sill snoop, and peep, and skulk for the rest of their time in power. They cannot think of any other way to conduct politics.
fast2write wrote on January 29, 2008 1:05 PM:What is the different between the Protect America Act, the FISA Bill, the Patriot Act and the Homegrown Terrorism Act?
Saul B. Wilen wrote on January 29, 2008 2:23 PM:The "Domestic Spying Law" being debated today in the Senate is a bad law that was forced to passage by the Bush administration based on FEAR in August 2007. The proven FALSE STATEMENTS used then are again being repeated. The present version of the law with retractive immunity for the telecommunications companies and a six year longevity is even worse. The present law expiress Feb. 1. THIS SHOULD HAPPEN AND A NEW GOOD LAW THAT BALANCES THE RIGHTS OF AMERICANS WITH THE SECURITY NEEDS OF AMERICA BE WRITTEN AND PASSED.
Retroactive immunity is always a bad idea. The courts should decide about the legality of actions not the President.
Action to pass this bad "Spying Law" at this time would tie the hands of any new administration and Congress. Any extension of the present law at this time is not in the best interests of America and the rights of Americans. Passage of this bad law will remove any accountability that must be in place to really protect America. The present law will further weaken America's Constitution and America's Democracy. DO NOT ALLOW THIS TO HAPPEN. TELL YOUR REPRESENTATIVES IN CONGRESS TO LET THIS BAD "SPYING LAW" EXPIRE.
Steve Real wrote on January 29, 2008 6:41 PM:The free for all is over.
It's time for the telecom's to account.
I want my Fisa bill to have
a real Judge involved.
Let's face the facts here
the telecoms broke the law.
They need to pay the piper.
Where are all my law and order people?
Everybody knows an informed citizenry
will outperform any spy network out there.
The FBI (according to Senator Graham from Florida)
had an informent living with one
of the 911 highjackers and the fella still couldn't
figure out what was going down.
Stupidity kills.
It's time for the telecoms to pay the piper.
oleeb wrote on January 29, 2008 6:42 PM:What a pussy Reid is. No balls at all. I'm amazed a person could have so little shame.