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FISA Amendments Act of 2007

Floor Speech

Date: Jan. 24, 2008
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: National Security


FISA AMENDMENTS ACT OF 2007 -- (Senate - January 24, 2008)

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Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I am sure those watching C-SPAN 2 are probably thoroughly confused with all of the parliamentary discussion back and forth and the parliamentary nuances attached thereto. Obviously, there are two sides to every story.

In fact, in April of 2007, the DNI--the Director of National Intelligence--asked for this FISA bill to be passed. Our good friends on the other side of the aisle delayed it. In June and July of 2007, the DNI actually pleaded--pleaded--for help. Our friends on the other side delayed right up until the August recess, at which time we did pass the Protect America Act, which was a 6-month authorization.

Now, during September and October, the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, in a bipartisan way, produced the Bond-Rockefeller compromise, which is the pending proposal before the Senate. It was, I gather, a painful series of compromises that brought the two sides together 13 to 2 on this extraordinarily important piece of legislation to protect our homeland. And that is the pending issue before us.

Now, we all know on an issue as important as protecting the homeland we don't get the job done unless we get a Presidential signature, and we do know the President of the United States will sign the Rockefeller-Bond proposal that is before us. So my strong recommendation to our colleagues is that we avail ourselves of the opportunity to pass this measure, which is already the product of substantial bipartisan compromise between the chairman and vice chairman of the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and also the members, who approved it 13 to 2.

A way to do that, obviously, would be to invoke cloture on that proposal, indicating that 60 or more Members of the Senate believed this bipartisan compromise, which we know will get a signature by the President of the United States and go into effect, would be a good bipartisan accomplishment for the Senate, and ultimately for the House and for America.

CLOTURE MOTION

Bearing that in mind, Mr. President, I send a cloture motion on the substitute amendment; that is, the Rockefeller-Bond proposal, to the desk.

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