Senate Sends FISA Reauthorization Bill Back to House With Amendment
The Senate passed the USA Freedom Reauthorization Act 80-16 Thursday. The House will now reconsider the bill (see 2005130056) with an amendment from Sens. Mike Lee, R-Utah, and Patrick Leahy, D-Vt.
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The Lee-Leahy amendment would bring “some much-needed oversight and accountability to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act,” Lee said in a statement Wednesday. “More work still needs to be done, but this is good reform in the right direction, and I look forward to final passage of this FISA reform legislation.” Leahy called it a “big win” for the protection of American privacy and civil liberties, while pushing for consideration in the House.
Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., urged the chamber to reconsider the Wyden-Daines amendment or vote no on the reauthorization bill. He called it a missed opportunity that Wyden-Daines failed by one vote Wednesday. He also voiced support for the Lee-Leahy amendment, which passed 77-19. The Patriot Act authorized extraordinarily broad authority to the executive branch that threatened Americans’ privacy rights and liberty interests, Udall said.
That Wyden-Daines received 59 votes is “a promising sign that the Senate is going to start better protecting Americans’ digital privacy,” Leahy said. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., expressed confidence that if his amendment comes up again, it would pass the Senate. Wyden voted no on the underlying bill, saying it “fails to close loopholes that the government could use to collect Americans’ records without any court oversight at all.”
An amendment from Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., failed 11-85. It would have barred the government from surveilling an American citizen without warrant and prohibit the government from using Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act data against American citizens (see 2003180042). Voting in favor with Paul and Lee were Sens. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn.; Mike Braun, R-Ind.; Ted Cruz, R-Texas; Steve Daines, R-Mont.; John Kennedy, R-La.; Jerry Moran, R-Kan.; Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan, both R-Alaska; and Rick Scott, R-Fla. Paul said the amendment would restore the constitution for all Americans and prevent the FISA court from meddling in the political process. FISA enables a less-than-constitutional standard allowing searches that don’t meet the Fourth Amendment, which requires probable cause, he argued.
Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., voted against the underlying bill: It fails to “adequately limit the types of information” the government collects, and it fails to limit how long the government can keep the information. “I am unwilling to grant any president surveillance tools that pose such a high risk to Americans’ civil liberties," Markey added. Senate Majority Whip John Thune, R-S.D., hoped the House will “move quickly to send” the bill to President Donald Trump’s desk, speaking of the importance to reauthorize “critical national security tools.”
The amended bill “will ensure critical information is disclosed to the intelligence courts and allow independent experts to provide their views in cases,” said American Civil Liberties Union Senior Legislative Counsel Neema Singh Guliani.