Today, the House Parliamentarian referred H.R. 4291, the “FISA Transparency and Modernization Act of 2014,” to the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, with a secondary referral to the House Judiciary Committee. The lead sponsors of H.R. 4291 are House Intelligence Chairman Mike Rogers (R-MI) and Ranking Member Dutch Ruppersberger (D-MD). Since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the House Judiciary Committee has been the Committee of primary jurisdiction for reform of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). Congressman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), a veteran member of the House Judiciary Committee, released the following statement:

“As we move forward on FISA reform, I continue to endorse the approach taken in the Sensenbrenner-Conyers (USA FREEDOM) Act, which, among other reforms, ends the bulk and indiscriminate collection of data and restores our intent that data collection be done only with individualized suspicion and judicial supervision. The Rogers-Ruppersberger bill, now before the House Intelligence Committee, fails to adequately ensure either. While I am heartened by what I have heard about the President’s proposal, the specific details remain unclear and will require close examination. And as the Congress does so, the House Judiciary Committee must be the primary Committee at the center of this reform.

“The House Judiciary Committee, not the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, has always been the primary forum to debate the appropriate scope of government surveillance. This Committee has long taken the lead, and held responsibility, for ensuring that our national security needs do not trump our core Constitutional freedoms. I am deeply concerned that today, for what appears to be the first time ever, a FISA reform bill has been sent first to the House Intelligence Committee. The House Judiciary Committee must assert its critically important role with regard to FISA reform efforts so as to ensure that our Constitutional liberties are properly protected as we seek to promote national security.”

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