2018: Fitzpatrick Voted For The $1.3 Trillion FY 2018 Omnibus
Spending Deal Which Raised Spending By $138 Billion Over FY 2017
Levels; Bill Included The CLOUD Act, Which Attempts To Provide A Legal
Framework For Law Enforcement To Get Data On Foreign Servers. In March
2018, Fitzpatrick voted for the FY 2018 Omnibus spending bill. According
to Congressional Quarterly, "Combined, the spending measures would
provide about $1.3 trillion in discretionary spending, with $1.2
trillion subject to discretionary spending caps, and $78.1 billion
designated as Overseas Contingency Operations funds. The measure's
spending levels are consistent with the increased defense and
non-defense budget caps set by the two-year budget deal agreed to last
month. That agreement increased the FY 2018 defense cap by $80 billion
and the non-defense cap by $63 billion. Given that the previous caps
were set to reduce overall discretionary spending by $5 billion, the
net increase provided by the omnibus is $138 billion over the FY 2017
level." The vote was on the motion to concur in the Senate Amendment
with an Amendment. The House agreed to the motion, thereby passing the
bill, by a vote of 256 to 167. The Senate later agreed to the
legislation, sending it to the president, who signed it into law.
[House Vote 127,
3/22/18; Congressional
Quarterly, 3/22/18; Congressional
Actions, H.R.
1625]
- Bill Included The CLOUD Act, Which Allows The U.S. Create
Bilateral Reciprocal Agreements Between Nations On How To Give Data
On A Foreign Server To Law Enforcement, Or Vice-Versa. According
to Axois, "Currently, it is hazy at best whether a U.S. warrant can
require a company to retrieve overseas data without the permission
of the country the server hosting the data is in. Show less
Microsoft and the Department of Justice are debating ambiguity in
the current process before the Supreme Court. Both have asked
legislators to resolve the issue outside the courts. The confusion
stems from the international agreements that govern how law
enforcement requests evidence from foreign countries. In the
Microsoft case, the software giant was asked to retrieve an email
stored in Ireland without going through the Mutual Legal Assistance
Treaty process. The DOJ argues that the email would be accessible
from within the United States --- meaning the search and seizure
would take place within national boundaries. Sens. Orrin Hatch
(R-UT), Chris Coons (D-DE), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), and Sheldon
Whitehouse (D-RI) introduced the Clarifying Lawful Overseas Use of
Data (CLOUD) Act, which would allow the U.S. to develop bilateral
reciprocal agreements to share digital evidence. The new law would
create a system for providers to challenge all warrants based on
international comity concerns, but would clarify that the U.S. could
seek warrants that would be valid pending any review. The current
process makes it illegal for a company with a U.S. server to provide
data to a foreign government if the roles are reversed. Microsoft
worries that going around the countries hosting the data servers
would put them in legal jeopardy abroad." [Axios,
2/6/18]