[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 113 (Thursday, July 26, 2012)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5471-S5472]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       FAA SUNSETS EXTENSION ACT

  Ms. KLOBUCHAR. Mr. President, on July 19, the Judiciary Committee 
considered legislation to reauthorize the title VII provisions of the 
Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. These surveillance authorities 
are vital to our

[[Page S5472]]

national security, and it is imperative that they be reauthorized 
before they expire at the end of this year. The reauthorization bill is 
narrow in scope, and many amendments were proposed at the committee 
markup that had little or nothing to do with the reauthorization of 
FISA. As I stated during the markup, I may have supported or been open 
to working out a compromise on several of the amendments in other 
contexts. However, I voted in opposition to all of the extraneous 
amendments offered because I felt their adoption would threaten the 
timely passage of the FISA reauthorization bill. That is not a risk I 
was willing to take.
  In particular, as for Senator Kyl's amendment to criminalize certain 
behavior that would reward past terrorist acts and Senator Grassley's 
amendment to impose the death penalty on terrorists who use weapons of 
mass destruction, I want to make clear that I strongly oppose the 
funding of terrorism and I believe that terrorists should be subject to 
the death penalty. I support the objectives of both of these 
amendments, but I was concerned that their adoption by the committee 
could delay or prevent passage of the FISA reauthorization bill. I am 
prepared to work with Senator Kyl and Senator Grassley to address these 
important issues at a more appropriate time going forward.
  I hope that these amendments and others are raised in the appropriate 
context so they can be adequately addressed.

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