Abercrombie Votes No on Bush Amendments to Wiretap Bill
Press Release
U.S. Representative Neil Abercrombie voted today against legislative changes pushed by President Bush in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA. FISA, first passed in 1978, authorizes U.S. intelligence agencies to collect intelligence from foreign nationals reasonably believed to be outside the United States by means including wiretaps or satellite interception of communication, but with a warrant issued by a special federal FISA Court. Following 9-11, President Bush secretly authorized the interception of international telephone and email messages without a warrant. The amendments in today's legislation reauthorize the warrantless wiretapping for six years.
"These changes will not make Americans any safer from terrorists," said Abercrombie, who chairs the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Air & Land Forces. "They simply reflect George W. Bush's belief that the President has virtually unlimited power to ignore Constitutional protections for individual privacy and civil rights. The FISA Act, with only slight adjustments to accommodate changing communications technologies, would give the government all the ability it needs to gather information from dangerous people without trampling on the rights of U.S. citizens."
Abercrombie also opposed a Bush amendment to the bill that grants retroactive immunity to telecommunication companies that provided information about individuals to the federal government without a warrant from the FISA Court. As many as 40 lawsuits have been filed against the telecomm companies by citizens seeking records about the telecomms' role in the wiretaps.
"President Bush seems unnerved at the prospect of American citizens filing lawsuits to protect their Constitutional rights," Abercrombie said. "I wish he was as concerned about protecting citizens from giant corporations as he is about protecting giant corporations from citizens."
The FISA bill with President Bush's amendments was approved by the House on a 293 to 129 vote, with 105 Democrats joining Republicans to pass the legislation.
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