Leahy offers bill to sunset FISA provisions

[babylonsister]

Leahy offers bill to sunset FISA provisions
By Pete Kasperowicz - 06/24/13 03:34 PM ET


Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and a bipartisan group of senators offered legislation Monday to sunset some surveillance programs more than two years early to allow for proper congressional oversight.

Leahy said Congress needs to rein in the surveillance programs at the National Security Agency (NSA) after leaker Edward Snowden revealed it is collecting billions of phone and Internet records from millions of Americans who are not connected to terrorist investigations.

"This is an issue of saying, 'We want to know what our government is doing and why,' and as Americans we have the right to know what our government does and why," Leahy said in a speech on the Senate floor. "The recent revelations about two classified data collection programs have brought renewed attention to the government's broad surveillance authorities, but they also underscore the need for close scrutiny by Congress.

"The comprehensive legislation I'm introducing today will not only improve the privacy protections and accountability provisions associated with these authorities, it's going to strengthen oversight and transparency."

Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Mike Lee (R-Utah), Jon Tester (D-Mont.), Mark Udall (D-Colo.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) are co-sponsors of the legislation.

more...

http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/senate/307423-bipartisan-senate-group-proposes-patriot-act-fisa-reforms

[cali]

1. anyone want to say that this isn't a positive development?

good on Pat.

[geek tragedy]

2. Stand with Pat sounds pretty good. nt

[cali]

3. sounds better than good on Pat.

It'll be interesting to see where this goes- or doesn't.

[Recursion]

5. I wish it hadn't taken this fiasco to wake Congress up to how shitty the current law is

But, I'll take what I can get.

[cali]

6. Except it didn't.

Leahy has been working on this for years.

http://www.fas.org/irp/agency/doj/fisa/leahy073102.html

http://www.leahy.senate.gov/press/statement-of-senator-patrick-leahy-on-hr-5949-extension-of-the-fisa-amendments-act-of-2008

Patrick Leahy Introduces Legislation (Yet Again) To Require Government Warrants To Get Your Electronic Info
http://www.techdirt.com/blog/?tag=patrick+leahy

http://www.leahy.senate.gov/press/leahy-lee-introduce-legislation-to-update-electronic-communications-privacy-act

Only hours after it appeared in print, the story that the National Security Agency secretly has been gathering a giant database of phone records set off a firestorm on Capitol Hill. Vermont Democrat Patrick Leahy was visibly angry about it and lashed out at the Bush administration at a Senate Judiciary Committee meeting scheduled to discuss judicial nominations.

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/law/jan-june06/nsa_05-11.html

Breaking: Senate Judiciary Committee Authorizes Subpoenas For NSA Domestic Spying Documents

<snip>

http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2007/06/21/14147/nsa-docs-supoena/

He's been on this for a long time.

[Recursion]

4. Great!

I wish people had been thinking like this 5 years ago.

[maindawg]

7. I wished..........

in one hand. This is so old news I am amazed that anyone is surprised. This all happened like 11 years ago. Its called 'the patriot act'. Its the reason they blew up the twin towers. They wrote a book about all this back in the 90s. The Neocons told us all what they were going to do. They followed through and everyone acted like it was ok. They still are.
I cannot understand what everyone is surprised about.
And so, while the teabaggers have been screaming about their constitutional rights, they really dont care about their constitutional rights and they actually detest constitutional rights when those rights concern, minorities, women, immigrants and LBGT folks.
When we elected the President, I called for all bigots to stand up for what they believe in. They have done so while insisting they are not bigoted ignorant syncpants. And now is another great opportunity to see who believes in constitutional rights.

[sabrina 1]

8. Excellent. I know he was working on doing this when Bush was president. I wondered what

happened to him. So glad to hear from him again.

NOW is the time for Democrats to step up to the plate and finally put an end to all these Bush policies, which is what we voted for in the first place.

[cantbeserious]

10. Voted Twice For Obama - Definitely Did Not Vote To Gut The 4th Amendment

eom

[cantbeserious]

9. Yes - Congress Takes Notice To End The Assault On The 4th Amendment And American People

eom

[Skidmore]

14. Which it created to begin with.

[cantbeserious]

15. Yes - At The Behest of A Republican, Oligarchical And Corporatist Driven Political Regime

eom

[MannyGoldstein]

11. This is absurd

Snowden jaywalks, and it's no coincidence that Leahy chose to represent the second-whitest state in America. Racist!

[mckara]

12. They Must Know the Natives are Restless!

They should repeal the provisions and end privatization of security responsibilities!

[Coccydynia]

13. This is why releasing "old news" is useful.

Sure, Leahy introduced this bill once before, in 2007. Well were it not for Edward "Old News" Snowden, I doubt Leahy would be introducing it now.

[East Coast Pirate]

16. So Edward Snowden did a good thing?

[JDPriestly]

17. Let's support Leahy's bill.

The FISA program is far to wide-reaching.

Warrants for our communications should be issued only upon probable cause. This would not be necessary were it not that the NSA and probably other government agencies way overstepped.

Read the Thurgood Marshall dissent in Smith v. Maryland. It applies to the situation we have today. Smith v. Maryland concerned police retrieval of a pen register for one person who was suspected of a specific crime. It was not a license to gather information of this magnitude.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023080703

[muriel_volestrangler]

18. K&R

for the senators doing their job.

[treestar]

19. At least he's doing something

Rather than exaggerating.

[Solly Mack]

20. K&R