The Democratic-controlled House of Representatives passed legislation on Wednesday that will allegedly prevent future “spying” abuses that were seen and exposed during the Trump-Russia investigation.
The bipartisan legislation will reauthorize FBI crime-fighting tools that were set to expire Sunday and to reform the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act court process.
The problem, of course, is that it wasn’t the “process” that was the problem. The Chief of the FISC James Boasberg made it clear that the so-called errors in the FISA warrants on Carter Page were deliberate and they were allowed by the highest level administrators in the FBI and the DOJ.
USA Freedom Reauthorization Act passed by a 278-136 vote and brought together Trump’s strongest supporters — such as Reps. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., and Jim Jordan, R-Ohio — and some of his fiercest critics — like Reps. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., and Adam Schiff, D-Calif. — who wanted improvements to protect Americans’ privacy and safeguard against surveillance abuses.
Jordan called the bill “an improvement” over the status quo.
“The legislation begins to address the problems that we saw with the FBI’s illegal surveillance of Trump campaign associate Carter Page,” Jordan said.
WHAT THE BILL DOES
There will be penalties for those who abuse the process. They will also be required to have transcripts of court proceedings.
Fox News reports there were “three surveillance provisions that are set to expire Sunday, including one that permits the FBI to obtain our orders to collect business records on subjects in national security investigations. Another, known as the “roving wiretap” provision, permits surveillance on subjects even after they’ve changed phones, and to monitor subjects who don’t have ties to international terrorist organizations.”
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“The bill seeks to rein in a controversial portion of the surveillance powers, Section 215, which gives the government broad powers to demand “business records” from companies in the name of national security investigations. In an effort to better protect privacy, the legislation would prohibit using Section 215 to acquire information that would otherwise require a warrant and would ban obtaining GPS and cell site locations,” Jerrold Nadler said.
The NSA has been using Section 215 to collect bulk phone data records. That program is officially ended.
The new legislation will also require the attorney general to personally sign off on surveilling government officials.
Attorney General Bill Barr on Wednesday said he supported the passage of the FISA bill, saying it “will protect against abuse and misuse in the future.”
“I have reviewed the House FISA bill and support its passage,” Barr said in a statement Wednesday. “The bill contains an array of new requirements and compliance provisions that will protect against abuse and misuse in the future while ensuring that this critical tool is available when appropriate to protect the safety of the American people.”
It’s now headed for the Senate and it might pass.
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