Senate Extends FISA Debate Into Friday With Possible Amendments
The Senate’s debate over reauthorization of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act was expected to extend into Friday, with several senators trying to alter language from the House-passed FISA bill. FISA and surveillance authorities under Section 702 are set to expire…
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at midnight Friday. The chamber voted 67-32 to advance FISA on Thursday, taking the first of three procedural votes needed to move to final passage. “We obviously don’t have a lot of time left,” Schumer said, adding that his plan was for final passage Thursday. “Members should expect we’ll have votes tomorrow” if there’s not a final result Thursday. Several senators, including Ron Wyden, D-Ore.; Rand Paul, R-Ky.; and Josh Hawley, R-Mo., are opposed to the House-passed bill due to privacy concerns. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., filed an amendment that would add a warrant requirement for intelligence agencies seeking to access communications from American citizens. An effort to add a warrant requirement failed in the House 212-212 last week (see 2404120044). “We need to add the warrant requirement,” Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., told us Thursday. Wyden filed an amendment to strike language from the House Intelligence Community, which privacy hawks say would expand agencies’ access to information from virtually any device. The language from House Intelligence is broad and “deliberately, badly written,” said Hawley. The House bill could sweep in data from landlords who provide Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi maintenance professionals, said Hawley. He said he’s ok with FISA lapsing if it means the Senate is able to better protect privacy. Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Mark Warner, D-Va., said opponents are mischaracterizing the language. The “telecom world has changed since 2008,” he said, citing the development of cloud computing and data centers. “You have to update your definitions. I think that’s what [House Intelligence] tried to do.” If the Senate opts to alter the House bill through amendments, the program “goes dark,” said Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas. “I don’t know what’s going to happen.”