About 40 minutes after it ended, the Senate voted to pass a renewal of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which allows the government to gather intelligence on foreign subjects using the forced aid of electronic communications. Serves as an important tool used by. service providers.
The upper house voted 60-34 to pass reauthorization. The provision expired less than an hour before midnight Friday, and if the renewal had not passed sooner, the expiration would have meant companies would have had to comply with government requests for surveillance assistance under the bill. Is not forced.
Without it FISA section For reauthorization, the government would need to seek a warrant to compel any such assistance, a process that could last for an extended period.
The measure has now been sent to President Biden’s desk for his signature.
Senate advances FISA surveillance bill as expiration nears
The Senate passed the Section 702 FISA renewal minutes before Friday’s deadline, with the support of both party leaders, Chuck Schumer and Mitch McConnell. (Getty Images)
“The risks of such an outcome are grave,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., warned his colleagues Friday afternoon before any vote on amendments or the final bill.
“The officers being talked about today are virtually our only defense against national security disasters,” he said.
On Thursday, Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., claimed the program “will not go dark,” as others have suggested, if it is not renewed in time. Instead, Durbin pointed to recent certifications granted by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) that the Justice Department informed Congress would “generally remain in effect for one year, ending in April 2025.”
GOP lawmakers criticize Biden administration’s new Title IX protections for ‘gender identity’
Durbin rejected the idea that the provision would expire if the deadline passed. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
Although DOJ caution Congress opposed allowing this knowledge to slow the Section 702 renewal process in a letter earlier this month, as companies “are likely to stop or reduce cooperation in the legal process they receive.”
The DOJ further stated that this occurred during a lapse in previous surveillance measures.
That warning was echoed Friday by McConnell, who said, “It will be up to the government to play a slow and painstaking game in court against an army of the most sophisticated lawyers in the country.”
Republicans accuse Biden, Schumer of encouraging Iran before attacking Israel
“And in the meantime, actionable intelligence will pass us by,” he predicted.
The Justice Department underlined the need for Section 702. (Julia Nickinson/Getty Images)
As of approximately 6:00 pm Friday evening, it did not look as if the Section 702 FISA reauthorization would be voted on until next week, as many senators were unwilling to commit their debate time and votes on their various amendments to the measure. Were asking.
However, around 8:00 p.m., senators reached an agreement on the timing of amendment votes and debate, clearing the way for an expedited voting process.
Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. Revealed that the agreement brought my senators to the floor and announced that there would be multiple roll call votes. “All day long, we kept going and kept going and kept going, hoping to reach the breakthrough, and I’m glad we accomplished it,” he said, noting that there was “a lot of doubt” that it would be accomplished. Will be done.
“We finally got the Senate to agree to take a vote to address the serious problems with the FISA extension and the House-passed 702 reauthorization,” Senator Mike Lee, R-Utah, wrote on Twitter.
there were bipartisan coalitions grown on both sides On the renewal of Section 702, some argue that this provision is a vital national security need, and others are raising alarm about what they believe to be a violation of constitutional protections.
Paul expressed concern over the detail in the renovation. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc. via Getty Images)
Amendments from Sens. Rand Paul, R-Ky., Roger Marshall, R-Kan., Ron Wyden, D-Ore., Josh Hawley, R-Mo., Lee and Durbin were voted on before the final bill could be considered. “We cannot continue to sacrifice our freedoms in the name of security. Instead of reining in the overreach of FISA, RISAA has dramatically expanded it,” Paul said before voting on his amendments, which were to pass. 60 supporters were required. “I urge my colleagues to support meaningful reforms that protect both national security and civil liberties.”
Click here to get the Fox News app
Senator Mark Warner, D-Va., spoke against considering amendments to the bill, citing the rapidly approaching deadline. If any amendments to the measure pass in the Senate, the bill will be sent back to the House, where they will need to approve it once again.
All amendments failed to garner enough votes to pass, and thus were not added to the bill.
Schumer commented before the votes, “It would have been dangerous to allow FISA to expire.”
