Speeches
Pelosi: Bill to Update FISA Protects America While Protecting Our Civil Liberties
10/17/2007
“Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I commend Chairman Reyes and Chairman Conyers for their leadership in
protecting and defending the American people by putting forth the best way to
collect intelligence under the law.
“Mr. Speaker, as we say over and over again here, each one
of us who comes to serve in this body, indeed everyone who serves our country,
takes an oath of office to protect and defend the Constitution of the United
States. It’s thrill to take that oath of
office. But as we protect and defend the
American people, our oath of office calls upon us to protect and defend the
Constitution and our civil liberties.
“The legislation before us today does just that. It’s about protecting the American people
from terrorism and other national security threats. For a long time, I have observed on the
Intelligence Committee, both as a ranking member and also ex-officio as
Democratic Leader and now as Speaker. I
believe firmly in the role that intelligence gathering plays in protecting the
American people. We want to prevent war,
we want to prevent harm to our forces; force protection is a high priority for
us. And we must now meet this horrible
challenge of fighting terrorism in the world.
It has been a challenge for some time.
“We have to have the laws in place in order to collect that
intelligence under the law, and that is what this legislation does. First, it helps us defend our country against
terrorism and other threats. Second, it
protects the privacy of the American people, which is important to them and a
responsibility to us. Third, this
legislation restores a system of checks and balances and how we protect and
defend our country, and provides for rigorous oversight by Congress of this
collection.
“In the 1970s, when the FISA law was passed, it was
determined that Congress had a role in determining how the executive branch
conducted the collection of intelligence.
That system of checks and balances has served our country well. But with the advance of technology,
additional challenges arose and this legislation meets those challenges. Any suggestions to the contrary are simply
not factual. What the Director of
National Intelligence has asked for in terms of collection, he has received in
this legislation and he has received it under the law.
“The legislation restores checks and balances in other
ways. It rejects groundless claims of
‘inherent executive authority.’ Under
that, we might as well just crown the President king and just say he has access
to any information in our country and he may collect that outside the law.
“And this legislation reiterates that the law enacted by
Congress, FISA, the Foreign Intelligence Security Act, is the exclusive means
for conducting electronic surveillance to gather foreign intelligence. The principle of exclusivity is an important
principle and it is enshrined in this legislation.
“The bill also sunsets by December 31, 2009, the same time
the Patriot Act sunsets. The next
Administration and another Congress can review whether the new program
appropriately meets national security and civil liberty objectives.
“This bill does not provide immunity to telecommunication
companies that participated in the President’s warrantless surveillance
program. As I have said many times, you
can’t even consider such relief unless we know what people are asking for
immunity from. Congress is not a rubber
stamp. We are a co-equal branch of
government. We have a right to know what
conduct the Administration wants us to immunize against.
“Working side by side, the Intelligence Committee and the
Judiciary Committee have produced an excellent bill. It has been heralded so by those
organizations whose organized purpose is to protect our civil liberties in
light of our responsibility to our national security. It has been heralded by those who follow and
hold as a value the privacy of the American people. It has been heralded by those who understand
that one of our first responsibilities is to provide for the common defense.
“Our founders understood it well, the balance that needed to
be struck between security and liberty.
They spoke eloquently to it in their speeches and they enshrined it in
the Constitution. Let us protect the
American people under the law.
“Please my colleagues: support this very important legislation.”