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Dead Constitution See other Dead Constitution Articles Title: Senate Sets Two Days of Debate on Surveillance Law as Bush Signs Extension Senate Sets Two Days of Debate on Surveillance Law as Bush Signs Extension By Tim Starks, CQ Staff The Senate will vote next week on a new surveillance law that would address legal immunity for telecommunications companies and determine how much spying power to give the White House. After days of complex negotiations over a floor procedure for legislation (S 2248) rewriting the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA, PL 95-511), Senate leaders reached agreement Thursday evening on which amendments to allow. The Senate is now set to hold a debate, beginning Feb. 4 and lasting two days, on a dozen amendments that will address some of the bill’s most controversial aspects. Some of those amendments would have to clear a 60-vote threshold, making their adoption unlikely. Three amendments to be voted on next week will address retroactive immunity for companies being sued for allegedly assisting the National Security Agency in its warrantless surveillance program. One, by Democrats Russ Feingold of Wisconsin and Christopher J. Dodd of Connecticut, would simply remove the immunity provisions, which are a priority for the Bush administration. Another, by Arlen Specter, R-Pa., and Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., would substitute the federal government as the defendant in the lawsuits. Both would only need a simple majority for adoption. A third, by Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., would require the companies to justify their actions before the secret FISA court, which would then decide whether immunity was warranted. It would require 60 votes to be adopted. The deal came on the same day that President Bush signed into law a 15-day extension (HR 5104) of a temporary law that loosened electronic surveillance restrictions and granted the executive branch broad surveillance authority. The short-term law (PL 110-55) was set to expire Friday. It gave the executive branch authority to conduct surveillance of foreign targets without a warrant, whether they are communicating with someone in the United States or not. The secret FISA court had limited approval authority over surveillance procedures. But the temporary law does not include retroactive immunity for the telecommunications companies. Bush said the 15-day extension would give Congress “time to pass a good piece of legislation that makes sure that our professionals have the tools necessary to do their job, and provides liability protection to carriers who it is assumed helped us in protecting the American people.” The Senate overhaul bill, sponsored by Intelligence Chairman John D. Rockefeller IV, D-W.Va., would provide that protection and give the FISA court more authority to approve procedures for warrantless surveillance that may involve people in the United States. Some amendments will delve into how much authority to give the White House to conduct electronic surveillance. Another Feingold amendment would require the attorney general and the director of National Intelligence to certify that the tapping of communications is limited to those involving at least one specific individual target outside the United States, with the “significant purpose” of obtaining foreign intelligence information. A second Feinstein amendment would seek to establish that FISA is the exclusive means for conducting electronic surveillance. A measure by Benjamin L. Cardin, D-Md., would sunset the bill after four years, instead of six years, as currently written. The Feinstein and Cardin amendments would have to meet the 60-vote threshold. Republicans pressed for the threshold to head off any amendments that would significantly change the bill, which was negotiated with the White House. Some amendments, though, would loosen restrictions currently in law or in the bill. One by the vice-chairman of the Intelligence panel, Christopher S. Bond, R-Mo., would change definitions in the law to allow surveillance without a warrant in cases that involve the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. Its adoption would require a simple majority vote. If and when the bill passes the Senate, conference negotiations with the House could be difficult. A House-passed measure (HR 3773) has greater limits on spying and excludes any immunity provisions. Greg Vadala contributed to this story.
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#1. To: aristeides (#0)
What is there to talk about? The executive branch should not have any authority to do this.
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