Has the Senate gone too far?

As the presidential race heats up and narrows down to 4 candidates, our 535 current members of Congress are dragging their feet on a controversial bill of privacy and security.

This bill better known as FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) originated in 1978, and was amended by Bush and his administration under the Protect America Actin 2007 to " ease restrictions on secret surveillance of alleged terrorist suspects" [1]. This bill grants immunity to all telecommunications companies, giving them the power to share with the government all phone calls, emails, instant messages, and text messages done over their lines, no warrant necessary.

On January 25th, The Philadelphia Inquirerposted a story titled "Senate backs Protections for Telecoms",online informing the public ,“In a 60-36 vote, the Senate rejected a proposal from the Senate Judiciary Committee that did not include immunity for the telecoms."

The ramifications of these warrant-less taps draw up constitutional debates over illegal search and seizure, a right granted to all Americans in the Fourth Amendment.

The Fourth Amendment of the Bill of Rights guarantees "the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized." [2]

An ElectronicFrontierFoundation.comblog is making a call for change. On the page, the author states their case by noting,”The Senate should not let the telecoms off the hook. Granting immunity sets a dangerous precedent, sending the message that lawbreaking is acceptable and that the rights of Americans can be freely infringed by private companies in defiance of the law. . . the Senate should let Americans have their day in court.”

Currently this bill has angered many democratic senators, Chairman Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt being one. Leahy said in a CBS.com storyin November that, “granting immunity would give the Bush administration a "blank check." He continued, "When we give the government sweeping surveillance powers, there need to be clear rules and checks and balances to prevent abuses against the American people.”

As democrats such as Leahy attempt to rewrite bills, eliminating the immunity clause, republicans such as Bush has threatened a veto if the bill does not include the immunity clause.

Currently the FISA bill was up for extermination in early February. But the republicans fought hard and as CNN reported online Tuesday January 29th,“Congress (Tuesday) passed a 15-day extension of a temporary surveillance law set to expire later this week, buying itself more time to come up with a permanent fix for the measure.”

This gives the democrats a chance to come up with revisions to the bill, and make this bill more favorable in their minds for the American people.

Carla Giampa,Ursinus College senior and politics major is concerned with the current legislation. Giampa expresses that, "Our founding fathers fought the American Revolution and took immense care in drafting a constitution that protected the rights of its citizens from a strong central government. Allowing any government such a power will strip American citizens of the rights the founding fathers fought so hard to preserve."

If you oppose the bill like Carla, let your senators know by calling them or filling out a quick and easy form on the following link. ACT NOW!!!