Orrin Hatch: “Finally, I wish to briefly turn to FISA. This Congress has been working on FISA modernization for over 400 days with…”

“Finally, I wish to briefly turn to FISA. This Congress has been working on FISA modernization for over 400 days with apparently no end in sight. Should it take this long? The Constitution of the United States was written in about 115 days. That included travel time on horseback for the Founding Fathers. Congress has had plenty of time to debate this issue. We have to make sure we do not create unnecessary obstacles for intelligence analysts to track terrorists. As has been said, they can't connect the dots if they can't collect the dots. While negotiations continue, it is important to look at the two bills that have passed the Chambers. Let me paint a picture, a Tale of Two Bills, if you will. One bill was available for the public to review for over 4 months, went through 2 committees, had 2 weeks of floor debate including votes on 13 amendments, and passed the Chamber with a huge bipartisan veto-proof majority. The other bill was available for review for 2 days before receiving a vote. It went through no committees, had 1 hour of floor debate, allowed no amendments, and failed to receive bipartisan support, while barely passing the Chamber. Any negotiator would say the first bill in this instance would be the basis for negotiation, not the other way around. I am sure it is no surprise to anyone that the first one I described is the Senate-passed bill.”