OUR CIVIL LIBERTIES DESERVE PROTECTING
Temple Hills, MD - Yesterday the House Judiciary and Intelligence committees passed The Responsible Electronic Surveillance That Is Overseen, Reviewed and Effective Act of 2007 (The Restore Act). This legislation seeks to restore the necessary checks and balances over how the government conducts its surveillance program. The critical provision of this act reinstates the authority of the FISA court and requires the government to obtain a warrant if the target of the surveillance is located within the United States.
"It is critical that the intelligence community be given the necessary tools to conduct surveillance while protecting the civil liberties of Americans," said Donna Edwards. "I am confident that we can and will find a way to safeguard our national security under the watchful eye of the FISA courts without throwing away our civil liberties."
President Bush, however, stated that he would not sign any legislation into law unless it provided telecommunications companies, several of which aided the government in its warrantless wiretapping activities, retroactive immunity from prosecution. Large corporations such as AT&T Inc., Verizon Communications Inc., and others are lobbying hard to have immunity included into any new bill.
"Congress must not give in to the President on the issue of immunity for telecommunications companies who have violated the law," continued Ms. Edwards. "These companies and their powerful lobbyists have given generous contributions to members of Congress including Congressman Wynn. They must be held accountable. These companies had a choice and some chose to break the law and violate our civil liberties. No amount of money or influence should prevent the companies and their senior decision makers from being held accountable if they broke the law. Corporations cannot be allowed to break the law under the thinly veiled guise of 'national security' and walk away without penalty."
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