February 13, 2008 – Congressman Trent Franks (AZ-02) ) today gave the following statement on the failure of House Majority Democrats to muster enough votes to pass a 21-day extension of the Protect America Act, passed last August.  The 21-day patch follows the blatant refusal of Democrats to allow a vote on the bipartisan Senate bill to modernize the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). 

“Six months after passing the Protect America Act, the effective but temporary fix to our severely outdated FISA program, Democrats recklessly waited until the last minute and then passed a mere two week extension of that program. And today, instead of bringing up the permanent FISA fix as passed in the Senate, Democrats chose to once again use the security of our nation and Armed Forces as political fodder, and unbelievably offered only a 3 week extension.

“Since the original Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act was passed in 1978, America has experienced a technological revolution while our foreign intelligence law has remained in the prehistoric age.  Passing a permanent FISA fix to provide our intelligence community with the tools it needs has long been overdue.  The Senate’s bill passed earlier this week effectively addresses the concerns and needs of our intelligence community while ensuring protection for the civil liberties of all Americans, and there was absolutely no reason for Majority leadership to continue delaying a vote on this unspeakably critical legislation.

“However, I do gratefully applaud the 34 Democrat Members who stood against partisan posturing and did what was best today for our national security by refusing to pass yet another bill that would have jeopardized our nation’s security and compromised the crucial resources of our intelligence community.”