Feingold Supports FISA and Patriot Act Reforms — After Making them Hard to Pass
April 16, 2009. Senator Russell Feingold issues the following statement regarding the FISA Amendments Act and the Patriot Act:
Since 2001, I have spent a lot of time in the Intelligence Committee, the Judiciary Committee, and on the floor of the Senate bringing attention to both the possible and actual effects of legislation that has dangerously expanded the power of the executive branch to spy on innocent Americans. Despite these efforts, Congress insisted on enacting several measures including the USA PATRIOT Act, the Protect America Act, and the FISA Amendments Act, embarking on a tragic retreat from the principles that had governed the sensitive area of government surveillance for the previous three decades. Congress must get to work fixing these laws that have eroded the privacy and civil liberties of law-abiding citizens. In addition, the administration should declassify certain aspects of how these authorities have been used so that the American people can better understand their scope and impact.
April 2, 2009. Senator Orrin Hatch brings Senate Amendment 962 up for consideration. The amendment forbids even the mere consideration of a bill to reform the FISA Amendments Act or Patriot Act, unless 60 members of the Senate agree to it — and with only a half hour for reformers to make their case. Senator Russell Feingold and 98 fellow Senators pass Senate Amendment 962 by unanimous consent, and go on later that evening to pass the bill to which it is attached.
If Senator Feingold is really serious about reforming the Patriot Act and the FISA Amendments Act, why did he help pass legislation to make reform harder to accomplish?
