Posted originally on the CTH on December 11, 2023 | Sundance 

For those confused. There are two bills to modify the FISA702 reauthorization in the House.  (1) HR 6611 from the House Intel Committee and (2) HR 6570 from the House Judiciary Committee.  The intel committee bill expands domestic surveillance authority under the modifications; the judiciary committee bill requires the DOJ to get a search warrant before they can look at the incidental collection of American citizens.

Both bills came out of committee and were scheduled for a floor vote tomorrow, which has been cancelled due to public outcry (good job).  Speaker Mike Johnson initially planned to let both bills get voted tomorrow and the bill with the most votes advances to the Senate.  That’s a hot mess.

The House Intel Committee bill organized by Chairman Mike Turner is absolutely horrible. It expands FISA702 surveillance and makes things much worse.  The House Judiciary Bill organized by Chairman Jim Jordan is not structurally that much better, but it does put strong curtailments on the 702 surveillance authority by forcing the DOJ to get actual court approved search warrants on American citizens.

It should not come as a surprise to see a panel of 46 experts in Deep State weaponization come out in support of the Intelligence Committee bill, and then decry the insufferable 702 limitations put into place in the Judiciary Committee bill.   The bad guys want the House Intel version.

That’s a who’s-who list of 46 Deep State weaponization operatives, all supporting the Mike Turner version.

Turner lied when he said his HR 6611 bill was supported by John Ratcliffe and Devin Nunes.  It’s not, and they don’t.   Both Nunes and Ratcliffe support a panel within the process who have eyes on everything that is being done and can conduct immediate oversight.  Chairman Mike Turner is a big fibber, and y’all can tell him I said that.

The Deep State folks love the Turner bill (6611) because it makes the surveillance even easier by granting even more authority in their warrantless searches.  The Deep State folks do not like the Jordan bill (6570) because it requires a search warrant to look at the material, which means a predicate justification must exist.

Both bills suck, but the Jordan bill sucks less.

Speaker Johnson abandoned the competing same-day floor vote effort, and no one is sure where it goes from here; but that’s probably why the Deep State guys are writing a letter trying to influence Johnson on what bill to permit a vote.

In the meantime, the current FISA-702 authorization will likely be “short-term” renewed through April 19, 2024, as part of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), while congress figures out which long-term reform bill to send to the Senate.

It’s all a hot mess.

We The People just don’t want to be under surveillance, but we have no representation.