House Blows Off National Security Responsibilities

The House of Representatives today decided to once again place politics in front of national security by taking no action on the FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act). While some Democrats insist this is no big deal, I wonder why the Senate thought it was a big enough deal to ensure they passed their version of the legislation before a recess was called. Given that the Senate is supposed to be the more deliberative body, I wonder why they were able to act when the House was not.

What's the big deal? In the wake of 9/11, the FISA law originally created in 1978 was altered to make it easier to work with today's tellecommunication companies and electronic exchange. This weekend, instead of the changes the Senate passed to improve these rules and modernize FISA, we will revert back to 1978. You do remember 1978. No internet. No cell phones. No data exchange.

Why you ask? Because the House is concerned with an immunity provision in the Senate version of the bill that protects telecom companies from lawsuits based on their work on behalf of the government. So instead of working out the disaagreements on the bill or passing a patch to at least continue under the status quo until they do, the House decided to turn the clock back to 1978.

What can you do? Let your representatives in congress know how you feel during their unearned recess. Here is a useful link courtesy of New Jersey Community Resource web site.

Tell them to get back to work and finish what they started.

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