FISA Amendments Act of 2008

FISA AMENDMENTS ACT OF 2008 -- (House of Representatives - March 14, 2008)

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Mr. ELLISON. Mr. Speaker, today I rise to support the House Democratic FISA bill, a bill that provides for collection of data to protect America against people who would harm us, but also, and very importantly, provides court approval of acquisition and an ongoing process of review and oversight in order to protect Americans' privacy.

The bill goes beyond the RESTORE Act which we passed in the House, and I supported, by adopting statutory protections for U.S. persons overseas to ensure that surveillance of their communications are always conducted through the courts.

The House bill does not confer retroactive immunity on telecom carriers alleged to have participated under the President's warrantless surveillance program. It provides a mechanism for the carriers to assert existing immunity claims and to guarantee that they have a fair hearing in court currently prevented by the administration's assertion of the State secrets privilege.

In order to fully ascertain the scope and legality of the TSP, the House bill also creates a bipartisan commission on warrantless electronic surveillance activities with strong investigatory powers.

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