House GOP Proposing Telecom-Friendly Surveillance Bill
House Republicans are lining up behind a bill (HR-5440) that would give phone companies retroactive immunity for electronic surveillance done at the Bush administration’s request. House Democratic leaders aren’t ready to adopt the bill, the companion to a measure the Senate passed in December. Bipartisan talks are seeking a compromise between S-2248 and the bill (HR-3773) the House passed 227-189 in November, said a spokeswoman for Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md.
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“Democrats are working hard to craft a bipartisan modernization” of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, Hoyer said in a press statement. But Republicans have made the job difficult by resorting to “fear mongering,” he said, referring to numerous warnings that Congress would endanger national security by not adopting legislation last week. The House refused to take up S-2248, and didn’t vote to extend the Protect America Act, which expired Feb. 16. The law of the land now is FISA, which both sides agree needs reform to account for changes in communications technology.
But debate on the immunity provision has usurped energy, sapping congressional will to advance proposals for overall FISA updates and creating a bitter, hyperbolic and persistent environment, Hoyer said. He said current FISA law suffices to protect the nation’s security, but Republicans claims intelligence work will suffer unless new provisions defining surveillance rules are put in place. Work on a new bill will begin in earnest when Congress returns next week, as the House faces political reality. Bills proposing a six-month freeze until after the election are among ideas being tossed around.
“I don’t think there is a good faith compromise” to be made, said Computer & Communications Industry Association President Edward Black. Communications providers need a law to guide them amid numerous requests by law enforcement to provide customer data. Immunity poses a major problem, since it would relieve companies of “accountability” for giving data to the government without proper authorization, Black said, terming immunity grants a bad precedent.
Presidential candidates should prod Congress on immunity, Black said. Democratic Sens. Hillary Clinton of New York and Barack Obama of Illinois are on the record opposing telecom immunity, which GOP Sen. John McCain of Arizona endorses. “All of them could play a leadership role,” Black said. The Democrats opposed to immunity look somewhat ineffective if they can’t get Congress to follow their policy preferences, he said.