Majority’s Latest Flawed FISA Bill is Dead on Arrival (House Minority Leader John Boehner)

Over the course of the past month, I’ve watched as House Democratic leaders have chosen partisan politics over the safety and security of the American people. The latest FISA proposal from the House Majority is no exception, and it’s dead on arrival.

By outsourcing critical national security decisions to unelected judges and their trial lawyer allies, House Democrats have made it clear that they have no intention of giving our intelligence officials every tool they need to protect us. Their latest proposal would also hand over valuable national security oversight to a new commission charged with handling matters which already fall within the responsibilities of the existing House Intelligence Committee. And it would leave patriotic third parties exposed to unfettered and costly lawsuits at the hands of trial lawyers who are counting on the Democratic majority in Congress to block real FISA modernization.

It has become clear that trial lawyers are dictating national security policies to this Democratic Congress. This is a reckless, dangerous practice that has been openly opposed by their House Democratic colleagues. It’s time for rank-and-file Democrats to demand that their leaders to put our national security first and allow an up-or-down vote on the bipartisan Senate FISA bill. This latest proposal from House Democratic leaders is a sham, and it is clearly unacceptable to the U.S. Senate, the President, and the American people.