Congresswoman Gillibrand Reiterates Calls on Congress to Fix FISA ASAP
Letter
Congresswoman Gillibrand Reiterates Calls on Congress to Fix FISA ASAP
Local Congresswoman Presses Leaders
Today, local Congresswoman Kirsten Gillibrand renewed her call to House Democratic and Republican leaders to put partisanship aside and focus on coming up with a solution to reform and renew FISA legislation.
Earlier, this month, Congresswoman Gillibrand voted to extend the current FISA provisions that passed Congress earlier this year. However, that extension failed.
After the provision failed, Rep. Gillibrand was one of ten Democrats to buck their leadership and vote against adjournment for recess. Shortly thereafter she joined with Rep. Gabby Giffords (D-AZ), a fellow House Armed Services Committee Member, in writing a letter to the Speaker of the House, urging Congress to address an extension of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act immediately and cancel the scheduled recess.
Today, Congresswoman rejoined with Rep. Giffords to call on the Speaker of the House to begin work on the FISA law immediately.
A copy of that letter can be viewed here:
http://www.gillibrand.house.gov/images/Documents/fixfisaasap.pdf
A copy of the previous letter asking the Speaker to cancel the recess can be viewed here:
www.gillibrand.house.gov/images/Documents/fisanoadjourn.pdf
Below is the text of today's letter:
February 26, 2008
Dear Speaker Pelosi:
As Members of the House Armed Services Committee, we believe that securing our nation and protecting Americans from terrorist attacks is our greatest responsibility in Congress. That is why we strongly urge you to immediately concentrate on completing work on the new Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) this week upon our return to Congressional session.
Last November, the House passed a FISA bill, which we voted for, that provided our intelligence community with the authority it needs. It would allow them to spy on foreign terrorists, while continuing to protect American citizens from unwarranted wiretapping. Then the Senate completely revised that bill and sent it back to the House two weeks ago. Clearly there is a lot of negotiating needed in order to reconcile the two versions and develop a final bill. We believe that such negotiations must resume immediately.
As you know, the interim FISA legislation that addressed the problem of foreign communications that travel through a switch based in the United States, expired on Feb. 16th. This is unacceptable. Therefore, we strongly encourage you to make negotiating this important law your number one priority this week.
Sincerely,
Gabrielle Giffords Kirsten Gillibrand
Member of Congress Member of Congress
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