Congress Must Fix FISA Permanently

CONGRESS MUST FIX FISA PERMANENTLY -- (House of Representatives - March 05, 2008)

(Ms. FOXX asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 minute.)

Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, America's intelligence community has been without the tools it needs to monitor foreign terrorist communications for weeks. Last month, the Senate passed a bipartisan bill that put the necessary tools in place, but for some reason the majority will not allow a vote in the House on this broadly supported bill.

The bipartisan Senate legislation had the votes of 21 Senate Democrats. It would have permanently fixed FISA and enabled our intelligence community to monitor foreign terrorists' electronics communications effectively.

The House's refusal to consider this legislation has created bureaucratic hurdles that made our intelligence gathering on foreign terrorists unnecessarily difficult. As Senate Intelligence Chairman Jay Rockefeller said last month, America's intelligence gathering capability is being degraded.

The House should not adjourn until we have passed a permanent FISA fix that protects Americans and equips our intelligence community with the tools to thwart the plans of foreign terrorists. The American people expect and deserve no less.

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