Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act: Comparison of House-Passed H.R. 3773, S. 2248 as Reported by the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, and S. 2248 as Reported Out of the Senate Judiciary Committee

摘要

On November 15, 2007, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 3773, the RESTORE Act of 2007. On October 26, 2007, Senator Rockefeller reported S. 2248, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 Amendments Act of 2007 or the FISA Amendment Act of 2007, an original bill, from the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. S. 2248 was referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee on November 1, 2007. On November 16, 2007, S. 2248 was reported out of the Senate Judiciary Committee by Senator Leahy with an amendment in the nature of a substitute. Each bill includes amendments to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. This report provides a side by side comparison of the provisions of these three measures. A glossary of FISA terms from section 101 of FISA, 50 U.S.C. Section 1801 is attached. Senator Reid introduced two additional FISA bills on December 10, 2007, S. 2440 and S. 2441, which were read twice the following day and placed on the Senate Legislative Calendar as Numbers 529 and 530, respectively. S. 2402 was introduced by Senator Specter on December 3, 2007, and referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee. In Committee markup on December 13, 2007, an amendment in the nature of a substitute to S. 2402 was adopted by unanimous consent. Then, by a vote of 5-13, the Committee rejected S. 2402, as amended. The proposal would have permitted substitution of the government for electronic communication service providers in law suits where certain criteria were met. These bills will not be included in this side by side comparison.