FISA Reauthorization Stalls in Senate With Expiration Looming
Disagreements remain over what to include in legislation reauthorizing the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (see 2404180067), Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Friday, suggesting FISA authorities could expire at midnight. “Any one member can halt progress in this chamber,…
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so both sides need to fully cooperate if we want to get FISA done,” said Schumer. Sens. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Rand Paul, R-Ky., have said the House-passed FISA bill would expand FISA Section 702 and expose Americans’ to further surveillance abuse. Wyden offered an amendment with Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., on Friday that would strike language from the House Intelligence Committee that he said infringes on civil liberties. The chamber is “being asked to dramatically expand 702 authorities in ways that are almost guaranteed to result in extensive abuses,” Wyden said on the floor. “It is genuinely shocking that, with no public justification, no hearings, no markups, and a single week to even think about it, the U.S. Senate has been asked to give the government sweeping new authorities that could fundamentally change the relationship between Americans and their government.” Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., are seeking a warrant requirement in the legislation. Schumer said on the floor that members are trying to see if there’s a path to getting the bill done “quickly.” But he cautioned that members should plan to be in Washington over the weekend “if necessary” to work on both FISA and the foreign aid package, which is set for a House vote on Saturday. The Senate can pass the House bill or “doom the program to go dark” and “give free rein to foreign intelligence operatives and terrorists to target America,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said on the floor Friday.