Remarks of U.S. Senator Russ Feingold On the FISA Legislation Debated by the Senate

[The Straight Story]

Remarks of U.S. Senator Russ Feingold
On the FISA Legislation Debated by the Senate

August 3, 2007

"Mr. President, let me just respond a bit to what the senator from Connecticut just indicated. At times of war we don't give up our responsibility in the U.S. Senate to review and make laws. The notion that we simply defer this to the Director of National Intelligence and whatever he says is an abdication of our duties especially in time of war. In fact, let's remember why this is here. The senator regrets we're debating this and some of these very important matters that are generally kept secret are being discussed, I agree, but why aren’t they secret? Because the administration was conducting an illegal wiretapping program, and somebody inappropriately blew the lid on it. That wasn’t the doing of anybody in this body. That was due to the incompetence and inappropriate conduct of this administration in the first place. So that’s why we're here, with this kind of debate. It’s not because of anything anybody did here. And by the way this horrible conflict we’re having with those who attacked us on 9/11 - this conflict is something that we all agree on and not a single senator doesn't think that we should be able to get at these foreign calls. Not a single senator doesn't want to give the Admiral what he has asked for that is reasonable. We simply want protections for the civil liberties of people that have done absolutely nothing wrong. So, let's be sure what this debate is about. I want to thank the Majority Leader and Senator Rockefeller, Senator Levin, Senator Leahy and especially Senator Whitehouse who put tremendous effort into this, for trying to make this as good as possible.

“I am going to vote for the Rockefeller-Levin bill. I’m concerned that we’re moving too fast and that we have not necessarily come up with the right answer to the problem that we all recognize exists. But I am prepared to vote for this because I think it is, at least, a reasonable approach to addressing legitimate problems without unduly compromising the civil liberties of Americans. I do so, I must say, with great reluctance and with the expectation this is an experiment with a short expiration date, an experiment that we can assess and modify as we move forward.

“But we cannot pass the Bond-McConnell proposal. This bill would go way too far. It would permit the government with no court oversight whatsoever to intercept communications of calls to and from the United States as long as it is directed at a person - any person, not a suspected terrorist, any person - reasonably believed to be outside the United States. That means giving free reign to the government to wiretap anyone including U.S. citizens who live overseas, service members such as those in Iraq, journalists reporting from overseas or even members of Congress who are overseas and call home to the U.S. and this is without any court oversight whatever. That is unacceptable. It goes far, far beyond the identified problem of foreign to foreign communications that we all agree on. And it goes far, far beyond the public descriptions of the president's warrantless wiretapping program.

“What little judicial review the bill does provide is essentially meaningless. The FISA court would decide only whether the government certification that it has put reasonable procedures in place to direct its surveillance against people reasonably believed to be abroad is “clearly erroneous.” That's basically a standard that’s nothing more than a rubber stamp and it ignores the real issue here, which is protecting the rights of Americans who may be calling or e-mailing friends, family or business partners overseas and who have done absolutely nothing wrong. Let me point out that the so-called court review in the Bond bill will never happen because the court only has to rule within 180 days of enactment and there is now a sunset on the bill after 180 days. Mr. President, a six-month sunset does not justify voting for this bad version of the bill. We can't just suspend the Constitution for six months. So, I strongly oppose the Bond bill and I urge my colleagues to oppose it.”

http://feingold.senate.gov/~feingold/statements/07/08/20070803FISA.htm