Schakowsky Statement Against the FISA Amendments Act

June 20, 2008
Press Release
For Immediate Release:
June 20, 2008 		Contact: Peter Karafotas
(202) 226-6898

Schakowsky Statement Against the FISA Amendments Act

Washington, D.C.--U.S. Representative Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), a member of the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, today voted against H.R. 6304, the FISA Amendments Act, which will give the President wide latitude in conducting warrantless surveillance. The bill, which passed the House by a vote of 293 - 129, will now be considered by the United States Senate.
Congresswoman Schakowsky's statement in opposition to the bill follows:
"Madame Speaker:
I rise today to oppose H.R. 6304, the FISA Amendments Act.
Among the casualties of the "war on terror... has been the guarantee of civil liberties and right to privacy of American citizens upon which our nation was founded. Time and again, throughout his Presidency, George Bush has shown absolute indifference to the Constitution and the principles upon which it stands.
This disregard for the Constitution was never clearer than last summer when President Bush signed into law the Protect America Act, which I opposed then and continue to oppose to this day, a law that gave the President unprecedented authority to spy on Americans.
As Congress began to consider new legislation, I had hoped that we could reach a compromise that strikes the right balance between protecting the rights of individual Americans and protecting our nation's security. Like all of my colleagues in Congress, I believe that our nation must aggressively pursue terrorist targets in the United States and abroad. However, I know the United States is capable of doing so within a framework that respects the Constitution of the United States.
Many provisions within this bill are an improvement over the Protect America Act, especially the provision on exclusivity, which affirms that the Federal Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) is the exclusive means to conduct electronic surveillance of Americans for the purpose of foreign intelligence collection.
However, I believe firmly that the bill before us today does not do enough to protect the privacy rights of individual Americans and therefore I cannot in good conscience vote for its passage. Here are some of the problems with the bill before us today:
  • H.R. 6304 contains an "exigent circumstances... loophole that permits the Administration to conduct surveillance on Americans without getting a warrant for up to seven days every time "intelligence important to the national security of the US may be lost or not timely acquired.... The problem with language this open-ended is that an Administration, like the Bush Administration, can use this language as an invitation to repeatedly spy on Americans without a court order and in each case claim that circumstances demanded it.
  • Secondly, while H.R. 6304 contains a general prohibition on "reverse... targeting, it lacks clear statuary directives about when the government should return to the FISA court and obtain a warrant. Reverse targeting refers to the possibility that the Government will try to subvert FISA by wiretapping someone overseas, when the real target is an American with whom that foreign person is communicating. As is the case with the exigent circumstances provision, this open-ended language leaves the law vulnerable to misuse by an Administration.
  • Lastly, the retroactive immunity language in Title II virtually ensures the dismissal of all cases pending against the telecommunications companies that facilitated warrantless wiretapping over the last seven years. This violates the fundamental American principle that people are entitled to their day in court, and that the courts, not Congress, should decide whether people were injured by the illegal acts of others. It is unacceptable for Congress to protect private companies from lawsuits filed by people they may have harmed through illegal actions.
Ultimately, I believe that the President has presented Congress with a false choice. Ever since September 11, the Bush Administration has put forward the idea that Congress must choose between the liberties we cherish and the security we demand. I disagree wholeheartedly with this premise. The Congress can and must take stronger steps to protect the civil liberties of every American, to do anything less is simply contrary to everything for which this country has stood.
I would like to close by reading a quote from Benjamin Franklin. Though delivered centuries ago, it remains salient to today's debate. He said "Those Who Sacrifice Liberty for Security Deserve Neither....
I urge my colleagues to consider Benjamin Franklin's views as they vote today and I yield back the balance of my time."