We must ensure that our Intelligence Community can collect information with the speed and agility necessary to protect our nation’s security, while at the same time respecting Americans’ civil liberties. The Protect America Act put us on the right track by modernizing and updating FISA for tracking the communication of foreign terrorists. But with its expiration Congress must make these improvements permanent to allow our intelligence community to protect Americans.
It is utterly reckless for the House to ignore the Senate’s bipartisan intelligence legislation, when the Protect America Act has been expired for more than 10 days. As Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) said two weeks ago, ‘People have to understand around here that the quality of the intelligence that we’re going to be receiving is going to be degraded.’ The House must take up this legislation immediately and give Congress a chance to have an up or down vote on this critical bill. The necessary votes are there.
Foreign terrorists that threaten our nation are not taking a break. Neither should America. By allowing a vote on the Senate FISA bill—a bill that more than 20 Democrat Senators voted for—we can give our intelligence committee the tools they need to monitor foreign terrorists effectively.
Editor’s Note: Watch video of Hill pundits Peter Fenn & Frank Donatelli on FISA at The Hill’s Pundits Blog.