Congress keeps kicking surveillance reform down the road
Congress keeps kicking surveillance reform down the road
国会继续推迟对监控改革的决策
Congress renewed Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act for 45 days. But the fight isn’t over yet. 国会已将《外国情报监视法》（FISA）第702条款的有效期延长了45天。但这并不意味着斗争已经结束。
Congress has reauthorized Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act — but only for another 45 days. The extension is meant to give legislators more time to negotiate reforms to the controversial wiretapping bill. If the past few weeks are any indication of how future debates will go, however, we’re in for a bumpy ride. 国会已重新授权《外国情报监视法》第702条款，但仅延长了45天。此次延期旨在为立法者争取更多时间，以协商对这项备受争议的监听法案进行改革。然而，如果过去几周的情况预示了未来辩论的走向，那么我们恐怕将面临一段坎坷的历程。
The House renewed Section 702 with minor reforms on Wednesday evening. The bill didn’t include the hotly debated warrant requirement, but it did feature a provision prohibiting the Federal Reserve from issuing Central Bank Digital Currencies, which Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) described as a nonstarter. 众议院于周三晚间通过了包含微小改革的第702条款续期法案。该法案并未包含备受争议的“搜查令要求”，但却加入了一项禁止美联储发行中央银行数字货币（CBDC）的条款，参议院多数党领袖约翰·图恩（共和党，南达科他州）称该条款是“不可接受的”。
“Three weeks is more than enough time to negotiate a reform bill,” Thune said on the Senate floor on Thursday. “That is, if members are serious about negotiating.” “三周时间对于协商一份改革法案来说绰绰有余，”图恩周四在参议院发言时表示，“前提是议员们真的有诚意进行协商。”
That’s the open question. Senators tussled over the length of the extension. Ron Wyden (D-OR) favored a three-week reauthorization, while Tom Cotton (R-AR) called for a 45-day extension, citing an upcoming one-week recess. Section 702, Cotton said, was essential to US Armed Forces’ raid on Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro. The Senate ultimately landed on a 45-day extension, which the House upheld Thursday afternoon in a 261-111 vote. 这正是悬而未决的问题。参议员们就延期时长展开了争论。罗恩·怀登（民主党，俄勒冈州）倾向于三周的续期，而汤姆·科顿（共和党，阿肯色州）则以即将到来的为期一周的休会为由，要求延长45天。科顿称，第702条款对于美军针对委内瑞拉总统尼古拉斯·马杜罗的突袭行动至关重要。参议院最终决定延长45天，众议院在周四下午以261票对111票的结果通过了这一决定。
Negotiations over FISA’s future are likely to be fraught. On Wednesday, Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA) castigated House leadership for not allowing members to debate or vote on amendments to the reauthorization bill and described the past two days of negotiations as “a dumpster fire from a process standpoint.” 关于FISA未来的谈判可能会充满波折。周三，众议员吉姆·麦戈文（民主党，马萨诸塞州）严厉批评了众议院领导层，指责其不允许议员就续期法案的修正案进行辩论或投票，并将过去两天的谈判描述为“从程序角度来看简直是一场灾难”。
“We spent all night waiting around while Republicans fought among themselves,” McGovern said. “We were told nearly at midnight on Monday to go home. We were then told rules would meet at 8AM on Tuesday. We showed up for that meeting only to be told there would be no meeting because Republicans were still busy fighting with each other.” “我们整晚都在等待，而共和党人却在内部争斗，”麦戈文说，“周一近午夜时我们被告知回家。随后我们被告知规则委员会将于周二上午8点开会。我们赶去参加会议，却被告知会议取消了，因为共和党人还在忙着内斗。”
McGovern pointed out that many of the amendments reforming FISA were in fact introduced by Republicans — but House leadership wouldn’t allow them to be debated. 麦戈文指出，许多改革FISA的修正案实际上是由共和党人提出的，但众议院领导层却不允许对这些修正案进行辩论。
“These bills are take it or leave it. The leadership dictates every letter, every comma,” he said. “This is no way to run this place. It is no way to run a banana stand. It is pathetic, it is a disgrace, and the Speaker and the Majority ought to be embarrassed by what is going on here. You’re screwing over your own members.” “这些法案要么接受，要么拉倒。领导层决定了每一个字母、每一个逗号，”他说，“这不是管理这个地方的方式，甚至连管理一个香蕉摊都不如。这很可悲，这是一种耻辱，议长和多数党应该为这里发生的事情感到羞愧。你们在坑害自己的成员。”
Some members suggested that the House bill didn’t need to be debated because it already included several reforms. “It ain’t the same FISA,” said Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), who in 2024 supported an amendment requiring federal authorities to obtain warrants for queries involving US persons. 一些议员认为众议院的法案无需辩论，因为它已经包含了几项改革。“这已经不是原来的FISA了，”众议员吉姆·乔丹（共和党，俄亥俄州）表示。他在2024年曾支持一项要求联邦机构在查询涉及美国公民信息时必须获得搜查令的修正案。
The bill the House passed Wednesday did include some reforms. As described by Rep. Rick Crawford (R-AR), it would establish criminal penalties for intentional abuse of FISA 702 queries and falsification of statements to the FISA court, require the Department of Justice to update procedures to allow members to attend the court hearings, require FBI attorneys’ preapproval of all FBI US person queries, and mandate an independent audit on Section 702 procedures by the Government Accountability Office. The bill also included an entirely unrelated provision blocking the Federal Reserve from issuing Central Bank Digital Currencies. This provision, based on Majority Whip Tom Emmer’s (R-MN) Anti-CBDC Surveillance State Act, was attached to the FISA reauthorization by Rep. French Hill (R-AR). 众议院周三通过的法案确实包含了一些改革。正如众议员里克·克劳福德（共和党，阿肯色州）所描述的那样，该法案将对蓄意滥用FISA 702查询及向FISA法院提供虚假陈述的行为设定刑事处罚；要求司法部更新程序，允许议员旁听法院听证会；要求FBI律师预先批准所有针对美国人的查询；并授权政府问责局（GAO）对第702条款的程序进行独立审计。该法案还包含了一项完全不相关的条款，即禁止美联储发行中央银行数字货币。这一条款基于多数党党鞭汤姆·埃默（共和党，明尼苏达州）提出的《反CBDC监控国家法案》，由众议员弗伦奇·希尔（共和党，阿肯色州）附加到FISA续期法案中。
Privacy advocates disagree that the House bill goes far enough. Jake Laperruque, the deputy director of the Security and Surveillance Project at the Center for Democracy and Technology, described it as “incredibly disappointing.” 隐私倡导者认为众议院的法案改革力度远远不够。民主与技术中心安全与监控项目副主任杰克·拉佩鲁克将其描述为“令人极其失望”。
“This bill is empty-calories through and through. It contains no warrant for querying Americans’ messages, and no meaningful reforms of any kind,” Laperruque said. “这份法案完全是‘空洞的卡路里’。它没有包含查询美国人信息所需的搜查令，也没有任何实质性的改革，”拉佩鲁克说。
Congress now has until June 14th, 2026 to figure out reforms to Section 702. 国会现在必须在2026年6月14日之前拿出针对第702条款的改革方案。