Washington, D.C. - U.S. Rep. Rick Larsen (WA-02) released the following statement after the House of Representatives voted on the Electronic Surveillance Modernization Act (H.R. 5825).  The bill would make changes to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) – the statute that governs the surveillance of foreign powers, terrorist organizations and their agents.  These changes would dramatically expand the ability of the President to wiretap and gather information on American citizens without court approval.  Larsen voted against the bill that passed the House of Representatives by a vote of 232 to 191.

“The President already has the electronic surveillance tools necessary to fight terrorism.  There is no indication that current FISA law is inadequate or failing.  In fact, between 1997 and 2004 there were 9,081 applications submitted to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.  9,067 of these requests were approved – that’s 99.8% of all requests.”

“The President does not need these expanded powers to fight terrorism.  He has all the tools he needs to conduct electronic surveillance to gather foreign intelligence under the law.  Current law poses no burden on the President to protect our country from terrorists.”

“The Constitution requires independent judicial oversight of both presidential and congressional actions to ensure the protection of American privacy rights.  It is unfortunate that the President feels inconvenienced following the laws and regulations set forth in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.”