[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 107 (Thursday, June 26, 2008)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1379]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[[Page E1379]]
                      FISA AMENDMENTS ACT OF 2008

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                          HON. STENY H. HOYER

                              of maryland

                    in the house of representatives

                         Friday, June 20, 2008

  Mr. HOYER. Madam Speaker, this bill provides mechanisms to ensure 
that FISA's longstanding exclusivity is crystal clear. It states that 
only a new statute directly addressing the Executive branch's foreign 
intelligence surveillance authority can modify FISA. It provides 
clarity for the public and for telecommunications carriers by requiring 
requests for assistance to cite the statutory authority uuder which 
they are issued.
  In a January 19, 2006 White Paper on NSA Legal Authorities, the 
Justice Department made public a legal justification for the 
President's Terrorist Surveillance Program, TSP. It claimed that the 
President had an extra-statutory legal basis for foreign intelligence 
surveillance outside of FISA, both implicitly through an Authorization 
for the Use of Military Force or through a broad reading of Article II 
of the Constitution. Those arguments fly in the face of the 
longstanding doctrine of FISA exclusivity and are contrary to the plain 
language of the FISA statute. To be clear, the inclusion of these 
additional exclusivity mechanisms in this measure does not ratify the 
Administration's arguments with respect to the TSP. Nor does the bill's 
treatment of liability issues in Title II stand for a Congressional 
ratification of the Administration's actions under the TSP.
  In conclusion, I would like to extend my thanks to a few additional 
staff who worked tirelessly over the past few months on this FISA 
compromise, including Margaret Cantrell of the Whip's staff, Ted Kalo 
and Mark Dubester of the Judiciary Committee, Wyndee Parker of the 
Intelligence Committee, and Chris Healey of Senator Rockefeller's 
Intelligence Committee staff.

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