WASHINGTON (10 Mar.) -- U.S. Rep. Gus M. Bilirakis (R-Fla.) today urged House Democratic leadership to act in passing the Senate version of a permanent fix to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).

This bill, which was approved by the Senate on Feb. 12 by a vote of 68-29, would make available crucial tools to the U.S. intelligence community to conduct surveillance on terror suspects seeking to harm the American people. The Senate FISA bill would also give immunity to those third party groups who have acted in the interest of national security to cooperate with intelligence officials.

Bilirakis issued the following statement:

“Despite finding wide bipartisan support among members of the House of Representatives, the Democratic leadership has failed in their responsibility to put America’s security first.

“The American people and our intelligence community wait, and wait, while partisan politics and the interests of trial lawyers continue to motivate the Majority’s reluctance to allow for an up or down vote on a critical piece of legislation that our intelligence community confirms is essential to our efforts to thwart the efforts of terrorists seeking to attack the United States and her allies.

“This Congress is now entering the second week of March, and despite Senate action on this legislation back on February 12th, the House remains unable to vote on vital national security legislation, which the majority of its members support. I beseech House Democrats to abandon their stubborn politics and immediately act on the Senate-passed FISA legislation.”