Washington, D.C. Below are the prepared remarks of Congresswoman Jane Harman (D-Venice), chair of the Homeland Security Subcommittee on Intelligence, Information Sharing & Terrorism Risk Assessment, to be delivered when the House considers FISA-related legislation later today:

In June, I received the Central Intelligence Agency’s Seal Medal, the agency’s highest civilian award.  As one who lives and breathes security issues, this was a tremendous honor, which I share with the courageous women and men of the intelligence community serving in unaccompanied posts in austere locations around the world.  I have visited them, and thank them again for their bravery and selfless patriotism.

Why do I mention this?  Because the issue before us is fundamental to our efforts to track terrorists and to ensure that our freedoms and liberties are protected in the process.

Only a handful of us in this House are fully briefed on the Terrorist Surveillance Program – a program which gives those who implement it incredible tools to find people who would harm us or to engage in unprecedented violations of Americans’ constitutional rights for improper ideological or political purposes. 

The Senate-passed bill bypasses court review and requires only affidavits signed by various administration officials.  It punts on the need for a clear legal framework – to check and balance unfettered executive power.

In my view, we are drilling down to bedrock principle here and, sadly, we in the House appear poised to repeat the Senate’s mistake.  We should not succumb to the fear tactics on such prominent display this week.  We should reject being jammed.

We can track terrorist communications without starting down a slippery legal slope to potential unprecedented abuse of innocent Americans’ privacy.

This is our challenge, and work starts today on building the bipartisan support necessary to do a course correction by the time this bill sunsets.