[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 2]
[Senate]
[Pages 2363-2364]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                                  FISA

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, this is going to be a very busy few 
weeks and a very important few weeks. First, we have to complete the 
Indian health bill. Then we will have a debate on progress in Iraq. 
After the Iraq debate, we will turn to the economy and home ownership, 
and then the annual budget debate when the two parties put their 
priorities on the table.
  So in the midst of an extremely consequential Presidential race, the 
Senate will debate some of the most important issues of the day, 
including terrorism and the economy.
  But the debate over FISA--the Terrorist Surveillance Act--should be 
over. A bipartisan majority in the Senate has already voted to revise 
and extend our Nation's foreign intelligence surveillance program. A 
majority in the House, we know--a bipartisan majority--supports the 
Senate bill, and the Director of National Intelligence says our ability 
to track terrorists was weakened by the House leadership's failure to 
act.
  This failure to act on FISA has weakened our ability to track 
terrorists. For the safety of the American people, the House needs to 
take up the Senate bill that got 68 votes in the Senate, and it should 
do so without further delay.
  Two competing plans for moving America forward will be on vivid 
display over the next few weeks. The two parties will make their case 
on the issues that matter most. Republicans are ready and eager for the 
debate.
  I yield the floor.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Illinois is 
recognized.
  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I thank the minority leader of the Senate, 
Senator McConnell, for making that statement, but I would like to amend 
it. I would like to add something he failed to add and failed to advise 
the Senate.
  We offered to extend the terrorist surveillance law. We said there 
shouldn't be any gap in terms of the efforts of the United States to 
monitor these conversations. We made a repeated effort on the floor of 
the Senate to extend the law. Each and every time we offered to extend 
the law, an objection was heard from either Senator McConnell or 
another person on the Republican side. It appears this is not about the 
security advantage of the United States in fighting terrorism but about 
some political advantage that if this law appears to lapse, they 
believe they can make some political gain, I guess. That is the only 
thing I can deduce is their reason; otherwise, they would have extended 
this important

[[Page 2364]]

law, but the decision was made by the Republican leadership not to 
extend the law. I don't know why. We tried. We will continue to try, 
and we will continue to try to work out an agreement between the House 
and the Senate to make certain America is safe.

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