enlarge our minds and open the doors to our hearts that we may think your thoughts and pattern our affection after yours guide the members of this legislative body make them good managers of the different talents you have given them made a use these g for the good of others lord increase their respect for one another they will seek first to understand rather than to be understood open their eyes to new horizons of truth that they have not known before when they have to stand alone when  the clerk will read a communication to the senate washington d c feb twelfth two thousand and eight to the senate under the provisions of rule one paragraph three of the standing rules of the senate i hereby appoint the honorable john tester a senator from the state of montana to perform the duties of the chair signed robert c byrd present of a temporary present majority leader following remarks that i will make and perhaps the republican leader will make we're going to resume consideration the foreign intelligence surveillance act and will meet lee proceed to a series of roll call votes in relation to the remaining amendments cloture on the bill managers are working on a couple of the amendments see thing can be accepted by voice vote but there could be as many as nine roll call votes if republicans and benefited from the participation of intelligence experts in the executive branch the overwhelming bipartisan vote in the intelligence committee reflect the care concern and good faith that went into crafting the bill wasn't fifteen to nothing but it was starting to which around here is pretty close rockefeller bob bill contains the two main ingredients that are needed for this bill to be signed into law it will allow intelligence professionals to do their jobs and it will not allow trial lawyers to sue the telecommunications companies who may have participated and according to the intelligence committee itself acted in good faith to help protect our country the bill does not set a bill that a bill that does not satisfy these two way in the end to protect our country last week was a great example of what we can accomplish when we work with instead of against each other we're able to pass an economic growth package on an overwhelmingly bipartisan basis which the president will sign tomorrow we have another chance this week to put up a bipartisan win by passing the bipartisan rockefeller bond bill a bill that is critical to protecting the homeland from attack and protecting our forces fighting overseas so i'm confident that with the help of friends on the other side of the aisle we can work through the pending amendments and the so are the house and on to the president for his signature this week and one other subject mr president today on feb twelfth america celebrates the birthday of the greatest leader our country has ever produced a mile and state of kentucky and actually kentucky has a front row seat in the celebration abraham lincoln was born feb twelfth eighteen  in a log cabin three miles south of hodgenville kentucky one room cabin measured sixteen by eighteen feet had a dirt floor and no glass in the windows the future president was born with no advantages in life except for a strong curiosity and a sterling character by the end of his life this man of humble background had united our country by demonstrating leadership during america's time of greatest crisis and he showed our country the true value of the declaration of independence by starting that there must be no exceptions no exceptions to the deal that all men are created equal two centuries later america looks back with gratitude at our sixteenth president about celebrating the lincoln the commonwealth of kentucky can take special pride in the fact that lincoln was one of our own in the lincoln bason ten years opens opening ceremonies will take place in hodgenville so begin to two year event celebrating the great life and legacy and all across the country from the state capitol in springfield illinois where lincoln served as a legislator to here at washington where lincoln served as a wartime commander in chief americans will celebrate this important figure in our national story this child will be exciting for teachers students and any adult who loves american history i know that kentucky's friendly neighbors to the north in illinois often claim lincoln as their own and their license plates even say president lincoln wrote a speech that he intended to deliver in kentucky but never got the chance to do it and it he crafted these words gentlemen to and going to talk in so it is appropriate that's  celebration which begins in the same state that the man himself i hope every can talk and every american will take advantage of the opportunity to explore this exciting chapter in our history mr president you will present majority leader the order that's now before a congressional oversight enable congress veteran to understand the court's interpretation of the laws we passed a white house amendment giving face of court the discretion to stay a lower face of court decisions pending appeal rather than requiring a stay i can't remember providing that of the new authority provided by this bill the government may not intentionally acquire a communication when it knows ahead of time that the sender and all the intended recipients are in the united states so mr president the bill has been made better the bill that senator rockefeller and bond did was not a bill that is perfect in nature and i hope that they would not it's that the bill has been made better as a result of the work done by the judiciary committe we have members of the intelligence committee who also serve on the judiciary committee to it come to my mind or feinstein and white house and they have worked very hard both intelligence committee and the judiciary to improve this legislation so mr president i think that we should understand where we are we where we are as we are now doing different wire and i think the situation that is so concerning to most of us here is the president has been advised by his liars that he didn't follow the law anyway whatever we do here he's been told by his liars that he need not follow the law can do whatever he wants he is the boss he is someone doesn't have to follow the law he doesn't have to give a signing statement saying he rejects it he just go ahead and do it so mr president i don't think that we should this should be a day of celebration this should be a day of concern to the american people and i'm very happy that we've been able to improve the product that came out of the intelligence committee hopefully by the voting today we can improv eight to modernize and streamline the provisions of that act and for other purposes missouri mr president first of all we thank our colleagues for coming to this place where we can have votes and finally get this bill out which we started in december a very important bill we have worked together on a bipartisan basis and resolve almost all issues i would say that the amendment offered by our colleague from rhode island has been modified in a way that i believe makes  that i be added as a co sponsor to this modified amendment and i believe mr chairman we can accept it by voice vote as president just center from west virginia also like to be as a co sponsor and i congratulate senator whitehouse soner bond and others for doing an outstanding piece of work in resolving their differences on this extremely important enforcement mechanism the president and senator from rhode island mr president i have at the desk a modification to amendment three nine two zero without without objection the amendment is so modified president much of the fires of battle that we've been engaged in and there weeks that has taken to resolve this has been over trying to do two things one to fit this program within the separation of powers principles of the american system of government and two to make the rights of americans consistent with what they enjoy stateside in law enforcement investigations this amendment is a valuable step in both of those directions and it solves the minim issue that had been in dispute i appreciate very much the roles of chairman rockefeller vice chairman bond f b i director muller and d n i counsel powell in getting us to a voice vote on this bipartisan amendment mr president i now ask for unanimous consent that amendment number three nine two zero as modified be adopted by voice  very much mr president the purpose of this amendment is to strengthen the legal requirement that pfizer is the exclusive the sortie for the electronic surveillance of americans when pfizer was written in hundred seventy eight it followed thirty years of warrantless surveillance of communications and telegrams of hundreds of thousands of americans sending messages outside the country this would stress that pfizer is the legal way for the collection of electronic surveillance against americans the administration in two thousand and one decided that they would not take the terrorist surveillance program to the pfizer court that they would perform this program outside of pfizer and it took till january of two thousand and seven to bring this within the confines of pfizer where it is to this day i think we need to make a strong statement in this bill that pfizer is the exclusive authority for the electronic surveillance of all americans and this amendment aims to do it provides penalties for moving outside of the law and i believe it would strengthen the opportunity to prevent the chief executive either now or in the future from moving outside of this law those time the center for missouri the bell before s s twenty two forty eight already has an exclusive means provision that simply restates the congress's intent back in one thousand nine hundred ninety eight when pfizer was enacted to place the president at his lowest ebb of authority under the constitution which gives him power over foreign intelligence unfortunately this amendment is a significant change of the bipartisan provision in the intelligence committee bill and therefore i would urge my colleagues to oppose it during the next attack on our country in the face of an imminent threat congress may not be in a position to legislate an authorization yet the bottom line is we just don't know what tomorrow will bring this provision would raise unnecessary legal concerns that might be the effective action of our intelligence community to protect this country further because this amendment does not address warrantless surveillance in times of war national emergency following an attack on our country it does not provide enough flexibility for intelligence collectors objection i strongly support this amendment i think it's extremely very good delineation between how decisions are made as a core needs to be a part of this i urge my colleagues support the amendment the question is on  clinton serco byrne mr cochran senators voting in the affirmative by boxer feingold feinstein in a way mccaskill rockefeller tester and white house senators voting in the negative bind dole kyl lieberman lugar and stevens coleman mr coleman kno conrad mr conrad  mr sanders  kerry mr kerry  martinez mr martinez no warner mr warner no respect or mr specter i mr craig i the senate now will conduct two minutes of debate evenly divided on amendment number thirty nine seven nine feingold web test remember it lets the government get the information it needs about terrorists and about purely foreign communications well providing additional checks and balances for communications between people in the united states and their overseas family members friends and business colleagues and it has the support of nine coast bonser all this amendment does require the government to take extra steps to protect the privacy of americans on u s soil when it knows it has collected their communications this amendment fight against al qaeda and its affiliates so this is not about whether we will be effective in combating terrorism this is about whether americans at home deserve more privacy protections and foreigners overseas and this is about separation of powers whether anyone outside the executive branch will oversee what the government is doing with all the communications of americans that it collects inside the united states i urge my colleagues support the amount the senate come to order please the senate come to order please mr president the purpose of this bill is to make sure we're able to get information when we target a foreign terrorist overseas this applies a different standard to somebody in the united states who may be picked up on one of those calls then we apply within our own country if the f b i gets gets a warrant to listen in on a drug dealer and that drug dealer has lots of conversations if the drug dealers talking about the criminal operation then the f b i acts on it if it is innocent the f b i the the interceptors minimize or suppress that evidence they don't sequester it they don't have to go through  hoops that are required for a recipient of a telephone call from my foreign terrorist overseas there's no reason why when we have no challenges and no question that  to protect innocent americans that they need a higher level of protection when they're talking to a foreign terrorist than when they're talking to a united states drug dealer i urge the defeat of th mr bond mrs boxer mr brown mr brownback mr bunning mr  coleman ms collins mr conrad mr corker mr corn mr durban mr ans mr feingold mrs feinstein mrs lincoln mr lugar mr martinez mr mccain mr pryor mr reed of rhode island mr reid of nevada mr roberts mr rockefeller mr salazar mr sanders mr mr sessions mr shelby mr smet ms know pryor roberts rockefeller shelby specter soon vitter warner and wicker mr cochran mr cochran known as col sir my cane mr mccain no mr by mr by no hour every senator voted as a senator was to change his or her vote with thirty five voting in the affirmative and sixty three voting in the negative three nine seven nine is not agreed to without objection the question rekers out amendment number three nine zero seven offered by mr dodd of connecticut there are two minutes of time equally divided in the remaining amendments the time limit will be strictly enfor the chamber come to order please more time take the conversations outside of the senate please companies one of the phone companies refuse of course to comply with this five year surveillance program that was granted without a warrant without a court order i believe it's dangerous and setting a precedent for us today to grant that retroactive immunity without insisting that the courts as they are designed to do can determine the legality or illegality of this program therefore committees of the united states congress that have considered this issue three of the committees have rejected retroactive immunity only the intelligence community part of this bill if we program it lawsuits to go ahead against carriers alleged to participated in the program there will be more disclosures and discovery and pleadings of the means of collecting information disclosing our most vitals methods of collecting information secondly if we permit the carriers who may or may not have participated in this to be sued in court then the most important partners the government has the private sector will be discouraged from assisting us in the future they intelligence committee will uncommitted is looked at this review that said that these companies acted in good faith and therefore we should give this is murray mr nelson of florida mr levin i mr conrad mr conrad no martinez mr martinez now without objection the question recurs remember the number three nine one two offered by mr feingold of wisconsin there are two minutes evenly divided mr president can take your conversations outside the chamber please could i get order in the chamber please conversations outside the chamber please center from wisconsin thank you mr president this amendment was approved by the senate judiciary committee it ensures that or implementing the new authorities provided in this bill the government is acquiring the communications of targets from whom it seeks to obtain foreign intelligence information and it's not indiscriminately collecting all communications between the united states and overseas this amendment is necessary because of the vast and overbroad authorities provided by the p a in this bill and this bill in public dimona the d i stated that the p a would authorize this type of bulk collection which could cover every communication between americans inside the united states and europe or south america or the entire world he also said that the government is not actually engaging in this type of broad bulk collection but that it would be quote desirable unquote the amendment would not impede in any way collection in support of military operations as opponents continue to falsely friends and senator west virginia as president i oppose this amendment respectfully this bill already requires the government to certify that acquisition is targeted persons reasonably believed to be located outside of the united target we permit targeting of foreign terrorists overseas or americans who have a court order this does not permit listening in on bulk collections of communications involving  innocent americans the only american who's going to be listened in to is one calling to or receiving a call from a terrorist time i urge the defeated him and the question is an amendment three and one to mrs clinton mr mr cochran mr coleman ms collins mr con mr kennedy mr lugar mr martinez mr mccain mr roberts mr rockefeller mr sala mr sanders mr schumer mr sessions mr shelby mr smash ms snow mr specter  mr wicker mr wyden menendez murray reed of rhode island sanders and tester senators voting and the negative  hunter stevens mr stevens no mr pryor mr pryor no mr lieberman mr lieberman kno made by the director of national intelligence when he set up his recommendations to last april he and the attorney general strongly support this amendment because it adds for lesser raiders of weapons of mass destruction to the definition and pfizer of agents of a foreign power foreign intelligence information use of information and physical searches this amendment applies only to non u s persons making these definitional changes will allow the government to target for surveillance those who spread seek to spread this dangerous technology and it will enable the intelligence community to share information with other agencies it remains a central concern for our the amendment is agreed to reconsider without  objection the question is on amendment thirty nine twenty seven offered by the senator from pennsylvania within thirty seconds this amendment substitutes the government for the part of defendant in place of the telephone company that is designed to maintain some check and balance all the executive because congress has been totally ineffective to do so accomplishes both purposes it keeps the program growing to gain intelligence information necessary for national defense but it maintains the courts being open as a check and balance i  to senator whitehouse mr president island mr president if we vote for retroactive immunity we violate the rule of law taking away legitimate claims in legitimate litigation in a manner that is unprecedented and unconstitutional if on the other hand we do nothing we leave american companies gagged by the state secrets privilege and ongoing litigation this amendment is a sensible fair bipartisan alternative that takes away no rights that follows the federal specter's substitution amendment it may have changed some but it was voted on in the judiciary committee and it only had five votes we looked at it very carefully in the intelligence committee and decided not to do it at  all i think it's unnecessarily complicated litigation of all parties without providing anything it's not going to take place i think the plaintiffs may already sue the government under the statute to scrap the amendment subj and the government in the pl retroactive immunity this amendment must be defeated as well because it would continue to disclose all of the methods of collection and electronic surveillance it would put at risk the private parties all kinds expired the question is on the amendment is there sufficient second there there is a sufficient second the clerk will call the ro mr harkin by senators voting in the negative alexander brasso by bennett bind bunning birth carper chambliss cochran collins conrad corker corn and the previous order without objection under the previous order though now be two minutes of debate equally divided on amendment number three nine two seven offered by the senator from california i'm sorry three three a number three nine one nine offered by the senator from california mrs feinstein mr president from california thank you very much mr president pfizer has a law within it as to how you do electronic surveillance and that law has specific provisions of what companies seeking to assist the government must do essentially what this amendment does is ask the pfizer court to review that compliance by the telecom companies to see that they complied with the elements of that part pfizer i think some members have been able to look at the certification letter sent the telecoms but most members have not and it's very important i think that the court have an opportunity to review these certifications and see if they are adequate under the provisions of the pfizer law and this is exactly what this amendment does i thank the chair i yield the floor  court was not set up to make judgments about the operation of foreign intelligence as a matter of fact they said specifically in iran in a case released in december that that is a matter for the executive right now there are some people who say that there ought to be a court challenge to the president's terrorist surveillance program let me remind my colleagues that there are seven cases and we have an order for the center for missouri pl i think the chair let me were i my colleagues that there are seven cases proceeding against government the government and government employees which will not be impacted by this bill every day that litigation continues whether it be in a pfizer court or in open court there is a danger of leaking of information that there could be disclosure of our methods because there could be risks to employees of the companies in areas in the world certainly they their bottom line could be impacted as senator durbin pointed out last week leak leaks of classified information because of various harm to the company and his state i've urged the defeat of this amend mr by mr bannon mr biden mr bang on mn mr bond mrs boxer mr brown mr brownback mr bunning mr  mr casey mr chambliss mr sessions mr smith ms snow mr warner mr weber mr white house mr wicker mr wyde there's any senator still wish to vote or to change their vote if not on this vote the yeas are forty one the knaves are fifty seven under the previous order requiring sixty votes for the adoption of this amendment the amendment is withdrawn under the previous order the substitute amendment as amended is agreed to the clerk will read the bill for the third time that's twenty two forty eight a bill to amend the foreign intelligence surveillance act of nineteen seventy eight and so forth and for other purposes under the previous order the clerk will report the motion to invoke cloture w is is it the sense of the senate debate on s two two four eight an original bill to amend the foreign intelligence surveillance act of one hundred seventy eight to modernize and streamline the provisions of that act and for other purposes shall be brought to a close the mr cochran of florida mr nelson of nebraska i i have you know