The
Senate
has
passed
a
bill
reauthorizing
Section
702
of
the
Foreign
Intelligence
Surveillance
Act
(FISA),
a
controversial
program
that
allows
warrantless
spying
on
foreign
“targets,”
but
a
long,
knock-down,
drag-out
fight
over
amendments
kept
the
Senate
in
session
past
midnight
on
Friday,
when
the
surveillance
program
officially
expired.
To
be
clear,
the
spying
wasn’t
actually
going
to
stop.
As
Sen.
Mike
Lee
(R-OH)
pointed
out
on
the
Senate
floor
on
Friday
afternoon,
the
FISA
court
recently
granted
a
government
request
to
allow
the
program
to
continue
until
April
2025.
Sen.
John
Cornyn
(R-TX)
claimed
that
the
FISA
court’s
extension
of
Section
702
certification
“doesn’t
mean
the
program
can
continue
uninterrupted
for
another
year.”
“In
the
event
of
a
lapse,”
Cornyn
continued,
“tonight
at
midnight,
some
communication
service
providers
will
stop
cooperating
with
the
United
States
government.
That’s
exactly
what
happened
in
2008
when
the
predecessor
of
702,
called
the
Protect
America
Act,
lapsed.”
“Allowing
702
to
expire
would
be
‘an
act
of
unilateral
disarmament
in
the
face
of
the
Chinese
Communist
Party’”
Cornyn
was
keen
on
the
importance
of
the
FISA
spying
program,
saying,
“FBI
Director
Chris
Wray
said
allowing
702
to
expire
would
be,
quote,
an
act
of
unilateral
disarmament
in
the
face
of
the
Chinese
Communist
Party,
close
quote.
So
the
stakes
are
extremely
high.”
Sen.
Mark
Warner
(D-VA)
also
stressed
the
urgency
of
reauthorizing
of
Section
702,
claiming
that
“sixty
percent”
of
the
president’s
daily
brief
comes
from
material
collected
through
the
surveillance
program.
Less
than
three
hours
before
Section
702’s
expiration,
Sen.
Rand
Paul
(R-KY)
introduced
a
version
of
the
Fourth
Amendment
is
Not
For
Sale
Act
as
an
amendment
to
the
reauthorization
bill.
(It
ultimately
failed
31-61.)
Paul
was
clearly
frustrated
at
other
senators’
comments
that
it
was
too
late
to
add
new
amendments
to
the
bill.
“The
idea
that
we
don’t
have
enough
time
is
a
specious
one,”
Paul
said.
“The
only
reason
we
don’t
have
time
is
because
the
supporters
of
this
bill
delayed
it
to
the
last
hour.
We’ve
had
five
years
to
renew
this!”
In
his
colleagues’
defense,
the
House
had
three
failed
votes
on
Section
702
before
it
was
finally
able
to
send
its
bill
to
the
other
chamber,
leaving
the
Senate
with
barely
a
few
days
before
the
FISA
sunset
for
its
own
proceedings.
“The
House
is
still
here,”
Paul
pointed
out.
“They’re
going
to
be
voting
tomorrow.
We
should
pass
the
good
amendments
today,
send
them
to
the
House
tomorrow.”
The
House
is
scheduled
to
be
in
session
on
Saturday
to
vote
on
aid
packages
and
a
potential
TikTok
ban.
With
two
hours
to
go
before
Section
702’s
expiration,
the
so-called
act
of
unilateral
disarmament
in
the
face
of
the
Chinese
Communist
Party,
the
senators
then
took
a
five-minute
interlude
to
congratulate
Susan
Collins
for
making
her
9000th
roll
call
vote.
“Day
after
day,
year
after
year,
our
senior-most
appropriator
has
demonstrated,
through
her
dedication:
do
your
homework,
show
up
to
vote
on
everything,
on
time,”
said
Sen.
Mitch
McConnell
(R-KY).
The
Wyden-Hawley
amendment
failed,
meaning
that
the
next
iteration
of
the
FISA
surveillance
program
will
be
more
expansive
than
before
Sens.
Ron
Wyden
(D-OR)
and
Josh
Hawley
(R-MO)
introduced
an
amendment
that
would
have
struck
language
in
the
House
bill
that
expanded
the
definition
of
“electronic
communications
service
provider.”
Under
the
House’s
new
provision,
anyone
“who
has
access
to
equipment
that
is
being
or
may
be
used
to
transmit
or
store
wire
or
electronic
communications.”
The
expansion,
Wyden
has
claimed,
would
force
“ordinary
Americans
and
small
businesses
to
conduct
secret,
warrantless
spying.” The
Wyden-Hawley
amendment
failed
34-58,
meaning
that
the
next
iteration
of
the
FISA
surveillance
program
will
be
more
expansive
than
before.
Both
Sens.
Paul
and
Dick
Durbin
(D-IL)
introduced
separate
amendments
imposing
warrant
requirements
on
surveilling
Americans.
A
similar
amendment
failed
in
the
House
on
a
212-212
vote.
Durbin’s
narrower
warrant
requirement
wouldn’t
require
intelligence
agencies
to
obtain
a
warrant
to
query
for
those
communications,
though
it
requires
one
to
access
them.
Sen.
Marco
Rubio
(R-FL)
objected
to
a
warrant
requirement
for
Americans’
communications
on
the
basis
that
many
terrorists
— like
the
2015
San
Bernardino
shooters
or
the
Boston
Marathon
bombers
— are
American.
“If
we
had
suspected
them
of
terrorism
and
—”
he
began
to
say,
before
he
caught
himself,
and
then
corrected
himself,
“none
of
these
were
prevented,
but
if
these
cases
emerged
today
and
we
suspected
them
of
terrorism,
under
this
amendment
you
would
not
be
able
to
surveil
them
to
prevent
a
terrorist
attack.”
Paul’s
warrant
requirement
amendment
failed
11-82,
Durbin’s
amendment
failed
42-50.
Lee
introduced
an
amendment
would
expand
the
role
amicus
curiae
briefs
play
in
FISA
court
proceedings.
At
this
point,
with
about
half
an
hour
until
midnight
and
the
official
expiration
of
Section
720,
senators
were
visibly
flagging.
Rubio
began
to
give
his
objection
to
the
amendment,
but
Warner
interjected
and
took
over,
saying,
“If
we
can
get
this
and
pass
the
bill
before
noon
—
before
midnight
—
we
can
meet
our
goal,
and
I
commit
to
work
with
all
to
make
sure
that
we
can
continue
to
review
the
amicus
proceedings
in
the
next
intel
authorization
bill.”
Earlier
in
the
day,
Warner
told
his
colleagues
that
the
reauthorization
is
for
“a
mere
two
years,”
so
they
might
as
well
pass
it.
Lee’s
amendment
failed
40-53.
“Mr.
President,
in
the
nick
of
time,
bipartisanship
has
prevailed
here
in
the
Senate,”
Majority
Leader
Chuck
Schumer
said,
as
the
final
amendment
was
defeated.
“We
are
reauthorizing
FISA,
right
before
it
expires
at
midnight
—
twenty
minutes
before
midnight.
All
day
long,
we
persisted
and
persisted
and
persisted
in
trying
to
reach
a
breakthrough,
and
in
the
end
we
have
succeeded
and
we
are
getting
FISA
done.”
The
Senate
commenced
voting
on
the
reauthorization
bill
with
fifteen
minutes
to
midnight,
clearing
a
60
vote
threshold
at
about
midnight.
As
of
writing,
the
Senate
still
has
not
officially
adjourned.
The
bill
is
now
headed
to
the
president.
If
signed
into
law,
the
Section
702
surveillance
program
will
expire
in
2026,
upon
which
we
will
have
to
do
this
all
over
again.
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