DEMS MCINTYRE AND SHULER PLAY POLITICS WITH FISA

RALEIGH—Rep. Mike McIntyre (NC-7) and Rep. Heath Shuler (NC-11) continue to stand in the way of progress as Congress considers passing permanent FISA legislation. Yesterday, the two Democrat congressmen voted repeatedly to block a vote on the Senate’s bipartisan FISA legislation (House Roll Call 48 and 53). They have taken this position despite the fact that the bill under consideration in the House has already passed the Senate with broad, bipartisan support. The current FISA law will expire this Saturday, February 16, but McIntyre and Shuler continue to stall on passing permanent FISA legislation, leaving our intelligence community hamstrung with 30-year-old laws.
With these votes, Mike McIntyre and Heath Shuler continue to add onto their already atrocious national security records:
Both voted for weak FISA legislation which failed to ensure that the intelligence community had all necessary tools available in order to carry out their surveillance duties when the United States is at risk of an imminent attack (House Roll Call 1119)
Both voted for Democrats’ FISA legislation which would have reopened the terrorist loophole in our intelligence laws and would endanger our national security (House Roll Call 1120)
Chairman Linda Daves, North Carolina Republican Party, made the following statement:
“Mike McIntyre and Heath Shuler are reckless and irresponsible to play politics with our safety and national security. Each day they refuse to act on this bipartisan anti-terror legislation passed by the U.S. Senate is another day our families are more vulnerable to real terrorist threats. They continue to stand with liberal leader Nancy Pelosi instead of the interests of the people of North Carolina. McIntyre and Shuler love to claim to be ‘blue dog’ Democrats, but these latest votes continue to prove one thing. When it comes to Democrat leadership in Washington, the tail wags the dog.”