Providing for Consideration of H.R. 5825, Electronic Surveillance Modernization Act

PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF H.R. 5825, ELECTRONIC SURVEILLANCE MODERNIZATION ACT -- (House of Representatives - September 28, 2006)

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Mr. MARKEY. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Florida. I thank him for his great leadership.

Let us be clear. There is no question that our government must make every effort to uncover, disrupt and prevent terrorist attacks. The 9/11 strikes demonstrated the devastation that can result if we fail to detect terrorist plots.

The question is not whether our intelligence agencies should be allowed to conduct electronic surveillance of suspected terrorists. The answer is, of course, yes. The question before us is whether a court should review such surveillance so innocent American citizens are not spied upon as the government conducts surveillance operations.

The bill we are considering today fails to provide the vital civil liberty safeguards for American citizens that are the cornerstone of our democracy.

This bill is badly flawed. It expands the President's authority to secretly wiretap U.S. citizens without going for a warrant to a court. Under current law, warrantless wiretapping is permitted in certain emergency situations. This bill more than doubles the amount of time that the President can conduct surveillance of U.S. citizens without a warrant.

This bill also increases the likelihood that innocent Americans will be caught up in government-run surveillance operations. That is because the bill reduces the amount of specific information the government must provide when seeking approval from the FISA court.

Mr. Speaker, the President wants to go on a fishing expedition, but he doesn't want to have to get a fishing license from a court that guarantees that he has not exceeded the Constitution of the United States.

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Mr. Speaker, the bill before us today attempts to authorize an illegal Bush Administration program that a Federal judge has determined ``blatantly disregards'' the Bill of Rights.

The Bush Administration's secret domestic surveillance program uncovered last year not only ignored constitutional protections against unreasonable searches and seizures, but also failed to abide by laws enacted before and after the September 11th attacks that give government authorities the tools needed to tap terrorist communications and track down terrorists while protecting the civil liberties of American citizens.

Let us be clear: there is no question that our government must make every effort to uncover, disrupt and prevent terrorist attacks--the 9/11 strikes demonstrated the devastation that can result if we fail to detect terrorist plots.

The question is not whether our intelligence agencies should be allowed to conduct electronic surveillance of suspected terrorists. The answer is, ``of course. Yes.'' The question before us is whether a court should review such surveillance so that innocent American citizens are not spied upon as the government conducts secret surveillance operations. The bill we are considering today fails to provide the vital civil liberties safeguards for American citizens that are the cornerstone of our democracy.

This bill is badly flawed.

It expands the President's authority to secretly wiretap U.S. citizens without a warrant from the FISA court. Under current law, the government can conduct warrantless surveillance for up to a year of any ``agent of a foreign power''--such as a foreign official or spy in the United States. But current law places a restriction on this authority--no communications of U.S. citizens or residents must be likely to be intercepted in the process. The bill before us today removes this important protection. That means that the phone calls and e-mail communications of any U.S. citizen could be intercepted while the government conducts warrantless surveillance of foreign agents.

Under current law, warrantless wiretapping is permitted in certain emergency situations. This bill more than doubles the amount of time that the Bush Administration can conduct surveillance of U.S. citizens without a warrant--from the current three days to up to seven days.

This bill also increases the likelihood that innocent Americans will be caught up in government-run surveillance operations. That's because the bill reduces the amount of specific information the government must provide when seeking approval from the FISA court, such as details on the type of information the government is looking for and the procedures in place to prevent information from U.S. citizens from being collected in the surveillance operation.

Congress should be holding the Bush Administration accountable for illegally eavesdropping on thousands of U.S. citizens. Instead, the House is considering a bill that would expand the power of the Bush Administration to conduct such spying.

The Constitution says ``We the People'', but we have a President who seems to have forgotten this--he thinks it's ``Me the People.'' From secret wiretapping programs to signing statements that cast aside the intent of Congress, this President has shredded constitutional protections and ignored the checks and balances that are essential to our democracy.

I urge my colleagues to defeat this bill, which has been rushed to the House Floor without sufficient evaluation. This bill will not make us safer. It will make everyday Americans more vulnerable to secret government eavesdropping conducted outside of the special court process that was designed to track terrorists without trampling on civil liberties.

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