Ron Wyden: “for nearly 30 years, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, FISA, as it has come to be known, has represented the…”

“for nearly 30 years, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, FISA, as it has come to be known, has represented the ultimate balance between our country's need to fight terrorism ferociously and to protect the constitutional rights of the American people. I intend to outline several of the key issues in this debate this afternoon. First, though, I want to say a word about the process which the distinguished Senate majority leader has just touched on. I was one of two in the Senate Intelligence Committee to oppose the Intelligence Committee's version of the legislation. I am strongly opposed to granting telecommunications companies total retroactive immunity when they have been accused of wrongdoing in the President's warrantless wiretapping program. The Intelligence Committee legislation includes such a grant of immunity, and it was the major reason I opposed the legislation.”