Progress Now Action

The following are the floor statements in the Congressional Record from all seven members of the House of Representatives from Colorado and both Senators, as well as how they voted. As you can see, for the most part they didn't have much to say. As you write your Senators and Representatives to either commend them or criticize them for their votes, please note their responses in the comments.

The Republican attack machine has already opened fire on DeGette, Udall, and Perlmutter for their principled votes. As I've spoken to my family, most of whom are primary voting Republicans, all of them--every last one--are horrified by the wiretapping vote. What the Republican party demagogues (and the brothers Salazar) need to get is that here in Colorado we're mostly small-l libertarians, whether we have a D or an R on our voter registrations.

1. Diana DeGette (against) - No floor statement issued.

2. Mark Udall (against)

Mr. Speaker, I regret that I cannot vote for this bill.

The bill is intended to provide a temporary response to the request of Admiral McConnell, Director of National Intelligence, for legislation to address what he says is a critical collection gap in our electronic surveillance capabilities.

I think Congress should take such action. That is why on August 3rd I voted for the House version of the legislation. That bill was supported by a majority of the House. However, it was considered under a procedure requiring a two-thirds vote, so our Republican colleagues, taking their lead from President Bush, were able to block it--and so now we are considering this different version, which has already passed the Senate.

Like the version I voted for earlier, this bill would make clear that no warrant or court order is required for our intelligence agencies to monitor communications between people located outside the United States, even if those communications pass through the United States or the surveillance device is located within the United States. The point of this clarification is to resolve doubts about the status of communications between foreign persons located overseas that pass through routing stations here in the United States.

I have no reservation in supporting this clarification to help resolve questions related to changes in communications technology since enactment of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA. And I think it is useful that the bill reiterates that individual warrants, based on probable cause, are required when surveillance is directed at individuals in the United States.

However, this Senate bill would go much further than the House version. It would allow interception, without warrants, of communications between someone in the United States and a foreign party suspected of involvement in "foreign intelligence'' matters, which is broader and less precise than the requirement that the party be suspected in connections to a terrorist group such as al-Qaida.

I am not convinced such a sweeping grant of authority is justified, and cannot support it.

The bill does require a warrant from the special FISA court for surveillance of a U.S. resident who is the chief target of the surveillance. And the bill requires involvement of the Director of National Intelligence, as well as the Attorney General, in approving surveillance, rather than just the Attorney General alone as the Administration wanted. In that regard, it is not as troublesome as it might have been. However, again, I am not convinced that its safeguards of Americans' privacy and civil liberties are adequate.

I greatly regret that our Republican colleagues made it impossible for the House to pass a better version of this legislation. I recognize that the bill before us is not a permanent measure, but will expire in six months. Nonetheless, while I do think Congress should act on this subject, I cannot support this bill as it stands.

3. John Salazar (for) - no floor statement issued

4. Marilyn Musgrave (for) - no floor statement issued

5. Doug Lamborn (for) - no floor statement issued

6. Tom Tancredo (not voting)

7. Ed Perlmutter (against) - no floor statement issued

Sen. Wayne Allard (for) - no floor statement issued

Sen. Ken Salazar (for) - no floor statement issued