Much has already been written on this by many others, and the issue was largely covered on this blog in April. Still, it's worth bringing it up again, in light of recent developments. The Washington Post has a good summary of what's been happening.

Today, the House of Representatives voted on what is likely the last in a series of attempts to amend the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Although Congress had more or less come to an agreement over the powers the executive branch ought to have, the remaining disagreement centered around whether telecommunications companies which cooperated with the Bush Administration's illegal wiretapping should receive immunity from privacy lawsuits, or whether courts should be allowed to decide if they did engage in wrong-doing.

The bill passed by the House today includes a provision to give retroactive immunity to telecommunications companies. It passed by a vote of 293 to 129.

Congressman Tim Walberg voted yes.

Back in April, state Senator Mark Schauer released this video on his thoughts about the controversy:

Labels: 110th Congress, FISA, Intelligence, Issues, Mark Schauer, Tim Walberg, Walberg Voting Record, Warrantless Wiretapping

By now, you've probably heard that the House and Senate passed the "Protecting America Act of 2007," which amends the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Depending on who you ask, this piece of legislation is either a needed fix to reflect new technology or a terrible failure on the part of Congress to stand up to the Bush Administration.

A quick review:

The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act grants the government various powers to spy on foreign powers and their agents in the United States. It includes emergency provisions to allow electronic surveillance-- that is, wiretapping-- without a court order, but with limitations and under the supervision of the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.

However, the Bush Administration ordered the National Security Agency to conduct secret, warrantless wiretapping outside the authority of FISA. Thus ensued a long debate over the constitutionality of the program, with the Bush Administration arguing that that FISA is antiquated, failing to take into account new technologies. Congress eventually passed an amendment making the NSA program illegal (which Congressman Walberg, shockingly, voted for), but the issue was never resolved.

Which brings us to this most recent bill. After Democratic versions failed, the Senate and the House of Representatives have passed a six-month "fix" that addresses the concerns of the Bush Administration.

From Congressional Quarterly:

The bill would immediately allow the administration to begin conducting warrantless surveillance of foreign targets, regardless of whether the target is communicating with someone in the United States. It would require the attorney general, in consultation with director, to write procedures on how the executive branch collects that information. Those procedures would be subjected later to the FISA court for approval. The bill would expire after six months, giving Congress a window to work out a longer-term FISA overhaul in the fall.

[...]

Others said they had concerns about the Republican legislation, but voted for it anyway.

“I’m not thrilled,” said Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo. “There are some changes we need to make to make sure that American citizens are protected. But it’s a lot better than a lot of things that have been forced down this Congress’ throat right before recesses that trampled on American’s liberties.”

Still, several Democrats opposed to the Republican bill said it would endanger the civil liberties of Americans too much.

[...]

But Democrats said their bill gave the intelligence community all the tools it needs while protecting the civil liberties of U.S. citizens. “Do you want to fix the problem, or do you want it as a political issue?” asked House Intelligence Chairman Silvestre Reyes, D-Texas.

It passed the House of Representatives by a vote of 227 to 123.

Tim Walberg voted Yes. Joining him were 41 Democrats (though none from Michigan), while two Republicans voted against the bill.

Of course, no one can really claim a complete victory or a complete failure. This issue is going to come up yet again in six months.

Labels: 110th Congress, Intelligence, Issues, Tim Walberg, Walberg Voting Record, Warrantless Wiretapping

Someone in the comments pointed this out... I had missed it, but it's interesting.

Yesterday, the House of Representatives voted on HR 2082, the Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008. Here's the bill description:

To authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2008 for intelligence and intelligence-related activities of the United States Government, the Community Management Account, and the Central Intelligence Agency Retirement and Disability System, and for other purposes.

It passed, 225 to 197.

As is often the case, Tim Walberg voted No. But that's not the interesting part.

Congressman Adam Schiff, a Democrat from California, offered an amendment yesterday.

AMENDMENT PURPOSE:
An amendment numbered 10 printed in House Report 110-144 to state that the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (FISA) shall be the exclusive means by which domestic electronic surveillance for the purpose of gathering foreign intelligence information may be conducted, and makes clear that this applies until specific statutory authorization for electronic surveillance, other than as an amendment to FISA, is enacted.

In other words, no more warrantless wiretapping by the Bush Administration. For those that have forgotten, President Bush has asserted in the past that the FISA court, which allows the government to secretly conduct domestic surveillance with only a handful of people knowing, was too slow. Instead, the president felt that he was justified in ordering the wiretapping of anyone, anywhere, at any time without a warrant from any court, and without any oversight. We were supposed to trust that he'd only watch the terrorists, of course.

That's my biased explanation, and some out there might disagree with how I characterized the warrantless wiretapping program. But-- here's the thing that has me shocked and amazed-- it looks like Congressman Tim Walberg, for once, agrees with me.

Tim Walberg voted Yes on the Schiff Amendment. A total of 23 Republicans joined 222 Democrats to pass the amendment, 245 to 178. In addition to Congressman Walberg, Michigan Republicans Vern Ehlers (MI-03) and Fred Upton (MI-06) voted to support the amendment.

Although I still think Congressman Walberg should be voted out of office, this was a very pleasant surprise this morning. Thank you, Congressman, for asserting that the executive branch does not have unlimited powers, and that even the president must follow the law.

Now, as long as you're voting like Russ Feingold, there are some other issues on which I'd love to see you embrace the liberal position.

Tim Walberg and Russ Feingold. Heh. I never thought I'd type that.

Labels: 110th Congress, Intelligence, Issues, Russ Feingold, Walberg Voting Record, Warrantless Wiretapping