Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 2008 - Continued
Floor Speech
FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE SURVEILLANCE AMENDMENTS ACT OF 2008--Continued -- (Senate - July 08, 2008)
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Mr. CASEY. Mr. President, I have limited time, and I know my colleague from New Mexico, Senator Bingaman, did an excellent job of outlining his amendment. I will skip much of what I was going to read in my statement.
Basically, what we are talking about is a time out. We are giving the Congress the opportunity to review the inspectors general report before the Congress chooses to authorize limited immunity for the telecom firms.
It is actually very simple. Basically, what we are saying is, the amendment simply allows the Congress to say: Wait a minute. Hold on. We should take a deep breath before we decide to authorize a Federal district court to grant telecom firms legal immunity for their actions related to the administration's warrantless surveillance program.
Let's figure out what this program entailed. Let's figure out what happened. Let's figure out what the telecom firms actually did, what they actually did when it came to wiretapping and surveillance.
So under this amendment, the pending lawsuits would remain stayed while the inspectors general complete their report. If the firms did nothing wrong, as they have proclaimed, they will be vindicated by the final inspectors general report. Then the Congress will have the confidence to grant these firms the immunity for which they ask.
So I think many Members of this body would have buyer's remorse if they voted for limited immunity without the understanding of what the President's surveillance program did and did not do. This amendment would prevent that buyer's remorse by allowing the Congress to better understand the conduct of the telecommunications firms before we decide to grant sweeping legal immunity for such conduct.
I encourage my colleagues, all Members of the Senate, to vote for this amendment. It strikes the right balance. It is about accountability. It is also about the rule of law. It is a reasonable balance to strike on very important issues, the issues of security and how we are going to implement any kind of program which involves wiretapping and surveillance.
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