FISA AMENDMENTS ACT OF 2008

Floor Speech

FISA AMENDMENTS ACT OF 2008

Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. Mr. Speaker, I began my service in Congress fighting for the right to privacy. Above all else, Americans' ability to communicate without the fear of having the government tap their phones, listen to their conversations or intercept their private communication is a right that just cannot be discarded.

Our good friends on the other side of the aisle have said if an American is not communicating with a terrorist, then they have nothing to fear. The manner in which the administration has conducted the warrantless surveillance program has undermined our citizens' confidence in the bedrock belief that we live in a free country where we do not live in constant fear of the government looking over our shoulder.

This is a cherished right that has been arrogantly cast aside by an administration run amok. After a careful review of both classified and unclassified materials concerning the administration's warrantless wiretapping program, I, like so many of my Judiciary Committee colleagues, concluded that the immunity that is proposed by the administration is unnecessary and goes too far.

We must be vigilant when protecting our citizens' right to privacy. It is a rare, unique, and important right that we cannot allow to be subjected to death by a thousand cuts. If the administration has its way and this right falls, what is next? We must stand in the breach and make sure that Americans' right to privacy is preserved.

I urge my colleagues to support this bill.

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