Washington, DC - U.S. Rep. John Hall (D-NY19) issued the following statement on his vote against passage of H.R. 6304, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) Amendments Act of 2008.

 

"I have consistently supported modernizing the existing FISA law to give our government the tools it needs to identify and defeat terrorists in today’s high-tech world, while at the same time preserving the freedoms and rights that define America.  I have voted three times to pass legislation that would strengthen and modernize FISA and reaffirm the rule of law.  Despite some improvements over previous attempts to update FISA, the bill considered by the House today regrettably falls short of achieving that critical balance. The rule of law lies at the core of America’s founding principles, and the language in this bill was too weak to ensure that any breach of our laws that may have occurred under the Bush Administration’s warrantless wiretapping program will be fully addressed.  It is not appropriate to deny Americans the right to pursue these matters in court, or to short-circuit the judicial review that lies at the heart of our system of checks and balances, which is the bedrock of our Constitution. Accordingly, I voted against this bill."

 

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