FISA Amendments Act of 2008

FISA AMENDMENTS ACT OF 2008 -- (House of Representatives - June 20, 2008)

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Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Madam Speaker, I oppose H.R. 6304. It allows widespread acquisition of private conversations without meaningful court review. The bill actually permits the government to perform mass untargeted surveillance of any and all conversations believed to be coming into and out of the United States without any individualized finding and without a requirement that wrongdoing is believed to be involved at all.

It arguably is not limited just to terrorism. It could be any foreign intelligence, which would include diplomacy and anything else. It is vague on what can be done with the information after it is acquired and who has access to it, and the only court review is a check on whether or not the government certifies that the process has been followed. The court does not review who, what and where the tapping will take place.

Furthermore, the collection of all of this data can be done under emergency provisions before the court acts, but the collection can continue to be done even if the court later rejects the application if the administration appeals.

The bill also provides retroactive immunity to communications companies who may have violated people's rights, and whether or not those rights have been violated should be reviewed by the courts, not decided here in Congress.

Madam Speaker, we can protect Americans' national security and protect civil rights by providing government access to personal conversations with meaningful court review. This bill fails to do that, and therefore should be defeated.

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