Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsReformers Narrowly Lose on FISA Reform, Now Get Patriot Act 2.0: A bad day for civil liberties in the House
https://prospect.org/politics/2024-04-12-reformers-narrowly-lose-fisa-reform-patriot-act-2.0/
Reps. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), center, and Chip Roy (R-TX) talk with reporters outside the U.S. Capitol after the House reauthorized Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act on Friday.
The House of Representatives voted on Friday to reauthorize a new version of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) Section 702, with provisions that amount to the greatest expansion of government surveillance powers since the Patriot Act of 2001. The bill, which is intended to retain a tool for intelligence on foreign subjects, would expand the scope of backdoor searches on U.S. persons by allowing the government to target immigrants traveling to the U.S., and seize a broad range of companies information on Americans, including data centers, commercial real estate landlords, and other communication equipment operators. Members of Congress, however, will get a special exemption from some of Big Brothers all-seeing eye because of a provision stating that politicians must be notified when a search query is conducted on them without a warrant, unlike the rest of the public.
Critically, an amendment backed by reformers, which would have added a requirement that government authorities need to obtain a warrant before spying on American citizens, was narrowly defeated when it ended in a 212-212 tie on the House floor. This warrant requirement is the core issue at the heart of a fight thats been raging for over a decade about government overreach and violation of civil liberties via Section 702. This failure to protect Americans privacy may well have just handed Donald Trump dramatically expanded warrantless surveillance powers, while defeating the single meaningful privacy reform that remained in the debate by the slimmest conceivable margin, said Sean Vitka, policy director of Demand Progress, in a statement.
This new surveillance apparatus being handed to the government was cleared through by the leadership of both parties after several days of negotiations this week. On Wednesday, a procedural rule paving the way for the floor vote failed to pass because of a variety of concerns about what it included. Leadership changed very little about the substance of the text other than agreeing that it would sunset over a shorter horizon, two years instead of the usual five years. That cosmetic change assured enough members for it to clear a rule vote on Friday; it was sold to the Freedom Caucus members who previously blocked the rule as giving Donald Trump an opportunity to further reform FISA should he get elected president again.
After several amendments were dealt with, with all of those proposed by the status quominded House Intelligence Committee passing and those proposed by the pro-reform Judiciary Committee failing, the final bill easily passed, 273-147. It will now go to the Senate, where there could be changes. After the House bill passed, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) put out a statement promising to do everything in [his] power to stop its passage. Wyden is just one voice though, and the reauthorization is ultimately likely to make it through and then get signed into law by President Biden. The warrant amendments failure begins with several high-ranking members of leadership in both parties, whod previously backed the reform but then flipped sides on Friday to crush it.
snip
InfoView thread info, including edit history
TrashPut this thread in your Trash Can (My DU » Trash Can)
BookmarkAdd this thread to your Bookmarks (My DU » Bookmarks)
2 replies, 342 views
ShareGet links to this post and/or share on social media
AlertAlert this post for a rule violation
PowersThere are no powers you can use on this post
EditCannot edit other people's posts
ReplyReply to this post
EditCannot edit other people's posts
Rec (2)
ReplyReply to this post
2 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight:
NoneDon't highlight anything
5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
Reformers Narrowly Lose on FISA Reform, Now Get Patriot Act 2.0: A bad day for civil liberties in the House (Original Post)
Celerity
Apr 13
OP
NoRethugFriends
(2,442 posts)1. Biden needs to veto it
Celerity
(44,477 posts)2. I will be (pleasantly) very surprised if he does veto it.
I was so disappointed with many of the Dem names who voted against that crucial amendment that lost on the 212-212 tie.
Wish one of them had flipped to Yes.