Reformers Narrowly Lose on FISA Reform, Now Get Patriot Act 2.0: A bad day for civil liberties in the House

[Celerity]

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 Brother’s 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 that’s 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 quo–minded 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 amendment’s failure begins with several high-ranking members of leadership in both parties, who’d previously backed the reform but then flipped sides on Friday to crush it.

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[NoRethugFriends]

1. Biden needs to veto it

[Celerity]

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.