Senate Passes FISA Bill, Heads To Biden’s Desk

Tonight the Senate passed the House-passed FISA expansion bill—after rejecting seven different amendments requiring a warrant and otherwise reforming FISA 702.

This is a horrible bill.

It shows wanton disregard for the rights of Americans.

This is not a day to celebrate.

— Mike Lee (@BasedMikeLee) April 20, 2024

Fox News reports:

Roughly 40 minutes after it lapsed, the Senate voted to pass a renewal of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which serves as a critical tool used by the government to gather intelligence on foreign subjects using the compelled assistance of electronic communication service providers.

The upper chamber voted 60-34 to pass the re-authorization. The provision lapsed for less than an hour at midnight on Friday, and if the renewal hadn’t passed soon after, the expiration would have meant companies would not be forced to comply with the government’s requests for surveillance aid under the bill.

Without the FISA section’s re-authorization, the government would be required to seek a warrant to compel any such assistance, which is a process that can span extended periods of time.

The measure now heads to President Biden’s desk for his signature.

“The stakes of such an outcome are grave,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., warned his colleagues in floor remarks Friday afternoon prior to any votes on amendments or the final bill.

“The authorities in question today have, quite literally, been the only defense against would-be national security disasters,” he added.

On Thursday, Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., claimed the program would not “go dark,” as others had suggested, if it was not renewed on time. Instead, Durbin pointed to recent certifications granted by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) that the Justice Department had informed Congress would “ordinarily remain in effect for one year, expiring in April 2025.”

However, the DOJ cautioned Congress against allowing this knowledge to slow down the Section 702 renewal process in a letter earlier this month, as companies “are likely to stop or reduce cooperation with the legal process they receive.”

The DOJ further noted that this occurred during a previous surveillance measure lapse.

This warning was reiterated by McConnell on Friday, who said, “It will be up to the government to play a slow and painstaking game of whack-a-mole in court against an army of the most sophisticated lawyers in the country.”

“And in the meantime, actionable intelligence will pass us right by,” he predicted.

“Allowing FISA to expire would have been dangerous,” Schumer remarked prior to the votes.

Well, if Schumer thinks it would be dangerous to let FISA expire, than I’m sure it would be great for We The People.

60–34: Senate approves two-year reauthorization of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).

The bill now heads to the White House. pic.twitter.com/kFBJ2WtPqq

— CSPAN (@cspan) April 20, 2024

Here’s Senator Wyden speaking against FISA, who’s a Democrat.

Well, that’s surprising.

And for those of you who want to watch the entire senate meeting, here’s the full 12 hour video: