The FISA Amendments Act of 2008

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Mr. Reid: Madam President, as I indicated, we started this debate again last evening. Both the Senate Intelligence and Judiciary Committees have jurisdiction over this legislation. Senators Rockefeller and Bond, Senators Leahy and Specter worked very hard on their particular aspects of this legislation.

We, under the regular order, in a case of sequential referral--that is what we have in this matter--the Intelligence Committee text is the underlying bill, and the Judiciary Committee text is automatically pending as a complete substitute.

Last night, Chairman Leahy, with the authorization of a majority of the committee, sent a slightly modified version of the Judiciary Committee amendment to the desk. We will have a vote on that amendment sometime today. The Judiciary Committee made what I believe to be some important improvements in this legislation, adding protections for the privacy of law-abiding Americans.

This is a strong bill. I will support it. I encourage my colleagues to do so as well.

In the event the full Judiciary Committee bill is not accepted by the Senate, I hope we can adopt some of the individual improvements from the Judiciary bill that is now in the form of an amendment.

Several of my colleagues, many of whom serve on the committees of jurisdiction; that is, both committees, plan to offer pieces of the Judiciary Committee bill as separate amendments.

In addition to considering the procedures included in title I of the bill, we will also debate the question of whether telephone companies that allegedly facilitated President Bush's warrantless wiretapping program should be granted retroactive immunity from civil lawsuits.

Senators Dodd and Feingold will seek to strike that immunity title. They will seek to strike it in its entirety. I personally oppose immunity and will support that amendment. But, of course, others disagree. If this amendment is not adopted, there will be other amendments to limit the immunity provisions in the Intelligence bill.

I hope there will not be extended time on these amendments. We can work through this. Friday is tomorrow. We have to finish this legislation, and we have to do it this week. It is an important piece of legislation. I have requested a 30-day extension. That is not going to be given. So everyone should understand, we have to go forward with this legislation.

Senators Specter and Whitehouse have an amendment they plan to offer, as do Senators Feinstein and Nelson of Florida.

As I have said before, if there are Senators who do not like these amendments and think they should be subjected to 60-vote thresholds, these Senators are going to have to engage in an old-fashioned filibuster. We are not going to automatically have these 60-vote margins. These amendments are by and large germane. They should be adopted if a majority of the Senate supports them.

Finally, yesterday, as I have indicated, I sent a letter to the President asking for a brief extension. I have heard from many sources that is not going to be granted.

The Senate will work as quickly as we can, but I think it is going to be very difficult for both Houses to negotiate and pass a final bill prior to the February 1 expiration date. But that is what we have to do, so we have no alternative.

Republicans have objected to my requests for a 30-day extension of the act, as I have mentioned. This matter is too important for us to be bogged down in procedural matters at this time.

I look forward to working with my colleagues on a bipartisan basis to provide our intelligence professionals with the tools they need to combat terrorism, while protecting the privacy of law-abiding American citizens.

Mr. McConnell: Madam President, we may only be a few days into the session, but it is not too early to note a change in tone from last January. Talks are moving forward on an economic growth package between the Secretary of the Treasury, the House Republican leader, and the Speaker, and there is good reason to expect an important national security achievement on FISA at the latest by next week.

I had hoped we would move to FISA first, since nothing could be more urgent than protecting this vital national security tool before its expiration on February 1. Our first duty is to protect Americans from harm, and we know for a fact this law has helped us--helped us--detect and disrupt terrorist plots. It would be grossly irresponsible for Congress to weaken it or to let it lapse. And the notion that some in Congress would even consider filibustering this vital antiterror tool is difficult to comprehend.

Fortunately, common sense seems to have prevailed. I was encouraged to see that my good friend, the majority leader, believes we can pass a FISA bill with sufficient time to get it signed before it expires. I am very pleased to see that the chairman of the Intelligence Committee believes the bipartisan version reported out of his committee last fall will be the one that will ultimately pass, hopefully, by February 1. This is good news not only because the Intelligence Committee's version is the best, but, most importantly, with some modification it is also the only one the President will sign.

We have put this off long enough. Let's work to pass this bill. I know the majority leader believes we should move forward on it as well. I certainly concur in his judgment on that matter.