FISA
Floor Speech
FISA -- (Senate - January 29, 2008)
Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, we have known we needed to get the FISA law extended for 6 months--6 months. I have also heard it suggested that somehow, little or no harm would be done if the law were allowed to expire. Well, that is simply incorrect. The ability to go after new targets would be eliminated with the expiration of this bill in 3 days. So here we are with 3 days to go, and I gather from listening to my good friend on the other side, the very real possibility is that there is at least some willingness on the part of some on the other side to just let the law expire.
Now, contrary to what some are saying, the expiration of this important antiterrorist tool has serious consequences; that is, if we don't get this job done, the notion that somehow it doesn't make any difference is certainly not true. Let me say again: Once it expires, intelligence officials will no longer be able to gather intelligence on new--new--foreign terrorist targets. The terrorists are not going to stop planning new attacks just because we stop monitoring their activities. Our enemies are watching. They know our intelligence capabilities will be degraded once the Protect America Act expires. That is why we need to reauthorize FISA in such a way that we retain its full--its full--terror-fighting force. The Senate Intelligence Committee's version does just that. That is the Rockefeller-Bond bipartisan proposal that came out of committee 13 to 2. Senate Republicans stand ready to finish that good work the committee did and the administration began.
We have proposed a list of several amendments to our colleagues on the other side that could receive votes. I know those discussions are ongoing, and hopefully we can begin to have some votes. But we do not have the time to rebuild amendment by amendment a Judiciary Committee version that a bipartisan majority of the Senate has already defeated. It wouldn't become law even if we passed it.
Now, Republicans are ready to provide a short-term extension of the Protect America Act to keep the Senate focused on the importance of this critical terror-fighting tool. But after 10 months of waiting, we do not need--and the country cannot afford--another month of delay.
We await the response of our Democratic colleagues to our amendment proposal, and those discussions, as I indicated, are going forward, and we look forward to finishing the job in a way that allows our intelligence professionals to keep us safe from harm.
I yield the floor.
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Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, this is the kind of discussion, of course, that the Senate is witnessing that typically occurs between the majority leader and myself and managers of the amendments. To sum it up, this is the kind of legislative finger-pointing that turns the public off. But it is the way in which we go forward.
We had discussions yesterday about voting on the very issues the majority leader just indicated are the key issues relating to this bill. Hopefully, during the course of the day, we will be able to come together and have the votes on the key amendments and move forward.
The President, of course, is not going to sign a lengthy extension or a 30-day extension. Any hope that we will extend existing law without dealing with the retroactive liability issue is a waste of energy and time. That isn't going to happen. So we are going to focus on this bill and, hopefully, find a way to go forward and let the Senate work its will.
If the House chooses to leave tonight, I find that a highly irresponsible act--right before the expiration of this very important law. There isn't anything more important that we are doing right now, with the possible exception of trying to figure out a way of going forward to stimulate our economy and prevent an extensive slowdown, than getting the homeland protected.
A key ingredient in securing that protection, we know, is getting this FISA law right and getting it passed--not some kind of short-term extension. The terrorists are not going to take a vacation for a few weeks or for 6 months or next year; they are going to be around for a while. We need to get this right and do it now, and today is a good day to get started.
I yield the floor.
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