Reformers Narrowly Lose on FISA Reform, Now Get Patriot Act 2.0

A bad day for civil liberties in the House of Representatives

BY LUKE GOLDSTEIN APRIL 12, 2024

The House of Representatives voted on Friday to reauthorize a new version of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) Section 702, with provisions that amount to the greatest expansion of government surveillance powers since the Patriot Act of 2001.

The bill, which is intended to retain a tool for intelligence on foreign subjects, would expand the scope of backdoor searches on U.S. persons by allowing the government to target immigrants traveling to the U.S., and seize a broad range of companies’ information on Americans, including data centers, commercial real estate landlords, and other communication equipment operators. Members of Congress, however, will get a special exemption from some of Big Brother’s all-seeing eye because of a provision stating that politicians must be notified when a search query is conducted on them without a warrant, unlike the rest of the public.

Critically, an amendment backed by reformers, which would have added a requirement that government authorities need to obtain a warrant before spying on American citizens, was narrowly defeated when it ended in a 212-212 tie on the House floor. This warrant requirement is the core issue at the heart of a fight that’s been raging for over a decade about government overreach and violation of civil liberties via Section 702.
https://prospect.org/politics/2024-04-12-reformers-narrowly-lose-fisa-reform-patriot-act-2.0/