Jeff Bingaman United States Senator from New Mexico

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Jeff Bingaman today introduced an amendment that he believes would significantly improve the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) legislation currently being debated in the Senate.

The FISA bill gives the U.S. government more power to legally monitor foreign communications. But it also gives blanket retroactive immunity to telecom companies that assisted with the President's unlawful warrantless wiretapping program. While the bill orders a federal investigation into the companies' actions, these telecom companies would be granted liability protection before the investigation would be completed.

Bingaman's amendment would "stay" all pending cases brought against the telecom companies while the investigation is ongoing. If Congress takes no additional action 90 days after the completion of the investigation, the telecom companies could seek the dismissal of the lawsuits. But the amendment would ensure that Congress has an opportunity to review the findings of the review before any companies are given blanket protection for their past actions.

"I believe that this legislation before us puts the cart before the horse. As soon as we enact the legislation it essentially grants telecom companies retroactive immunity for their past actions, but then after-the-fact it requires an in-depth investigation regarding what those activities actually were. 

"The purpose of my amendment is simply to put the horse and cart in the right order." he added. 

In introducing the bill on the Senate floor, Bingaman pointed out that although he is opposed to retroactive immunity his amendment maintains the overall structure of the bill and would simply allow Congress to consider the results of the investigation before companies are able to seek immunity for any past violations of the law. 

"I have a number of other concerns regarding aspects this bill. The last seven years have clearly demonstrated the need to have strong legal protections in place to protect against the unwarranted invasion of our constitutional rights, and I think we could do more in this regard. But regardless of whether senators generally favor this legislation or are adamantly opposed to it, I hope my colleagues will agree that this amendment is a reasonable modification which would improve the bill," Bingaman said.

Bingaman's cosponsors are Senators Bob Casey (D-PA), Arlen Specter (R-PA), Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and Bill Nelson (D-FL).