House Passes FISA Amendments Act

House Passes FISA Amendments Act. "The House has just passed the House amendment to the Senate amendment to H.R. 3773, to amend the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 to establish a procedure for authorizing certain acquisitions of foreign intelligence, and for other purposes, by a vote of 213-197-1. The revised House legislation to amend FISA grants new authorities for conducting electronic surveillance against foreign targets while preserving the requirement that the government obtain an individualized FISA court order, based on probable cause, when targeting Americans at home or abroad. The House bill also strongly enhances oversight of the Administration’s surveillance activities. Finally, the House bill does not provide retroactive immunity for telecom companies but allows the courts to determine whether lawsuits should proceed."

Here are the details of the maneuvers of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid tried to circumvent all of this allowing telecom immunity. It's interesting how all of this works.

The AP article on the passage includes this quote: "'We cannot conduct foreign surveillance without them. But if we continue to subject them to billion-dollar lawsuits, we risk losing their cooperation in the future,' said Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas." Um, they would be at risk if they don't break the law.