Two FISA Bills

The House was scheduled to vote on two long-term FISA reauthorization bills this week.. However, the vote for this week was cancelled last night. Congress is still considering a short-term extension of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) as part of the NDAA conference report.

What is FISA:

The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), first enacted in 1978, establishes procedures for the surveillance and collection of intelligence on foreign powers and agents of foreign powers on domestic soil.

In recent years, Section 702 – which after 9/11 created the authority for intelligence agencies to gather large amounts of data such as emails, phone calls, texts and other communications on foreigners living abroad, without a warrant – has been abused by intelligence agencies, namely the FBI.

What to know about the two bills:

There are two versions of a FISA bill that were scheduled to be voted on in a “queen-of-the-hill” style (more on that next). The text of these two bills were released last week – giving little time to review and raise questions about the bills.

The bill developed by the House Intelligence Committee does not protect Americans civil liberties and the bill developed by the House Judiciary Committee shields illegal immigrants that could pose a national security threat.

H.R. 6611 – FISA Reform and Reauthorization Act of 2023. This bill passed by the House Intelligence Committee does not include critical protections to protect the civil liberties of Americans from abuse by the FBI.
H.R. 6570 – Protect Liberty and End Warrantless Surveillance Act. This bill passed by the House Judiciary Committee would give new protections to foreign nationals who are in the U.S. and may present a serious threat to national security. This includes agents of Iran and the Chinese Communist Party who have entered the U.S. because of the Biden administration’s disastrous immigration failures.
Instead, Congress should make five key reforms to FISA:

• Putting strict limits on the FBI’s access to the “702 collection” or data collected using Section 702 of FISA. Section 702 authorizes broadscale surveillance of foreign nationals outside the U.S. – the FBI is a domestic law enforcement bureau, not a national defense agency.
• Requiring greater accountability for FBI abuses and stronger requirements for all intel agencies to ensure civil liberties are not abused.
• Reforming the process for FISA applications, including more robust amicus participation, oversight, and transparency.
• Requiring review and reports on FBI abuses.
• Providing tougher enforcement and penalties for violating the law.

Queen of the Hill

The “queen-of-the-hill” rule is a “most votes wins” rule. It’s a procedure where the House votes on competing versions of similar legislation. The version in the series of bills that gets the most votes is the version that passes, and is sent to the Senate.