Obama defends new FISA bill as 'compromise'

RAW STORY
Saturday, June 21, 2008

In a statement about a controversial bill, Senator Barack Obama defends intelligence gathering that would expand the wiretapping powers of President Bush's administration.

Obama said the legislation is a 'compromise' from last year's Protect America Act and reduces rather than increases the Bush administration's power to spy on Americans.

"The President's illegal program of warrantless surveillance will be over," Senator Obama said in the statement. "It restores FISA and existing criminal wiretap statutes as the exclusive means to conduct surveillance – making it clear that the President cannot circumvent the law and disregard the civil liberties of the American people."

The House of Representatives has already approved the legislation and sent it to the Senate, where it will likely be adopted.

The American Civil Liberties Union and Republican Ron Paul have teamed up to protest the measure in an effort named "Strange Bedfellows."
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