The Protect America Act – the FISA reform bill that was passed with little debate last August – is set to expire on February 1st, which is this Friday. The fight we’ve seen in the Senate over the last week has been part of an effort to pass a new law before the PAA expires. But what happens if the PAA sunsets without a replacement law already signed by the President? In short, not much.
Michelle Richardson of the ACLU has a good explanation in this top-rated diary at Daily Kos.

If that means the so-called Protect America Act sunsets, so be it. As House Leader Hoyer and Senate Intel Chairman Rockefeller have noted, all current surveillance orders can be extended into 2009 even if the current law expires. The intel community won’t be forced to end its current warrantless wiretapping and Congress will have the time to do, well, anything else besides pass this horrible Senate bill which is really the worst option out there to date. If no legislation is enacted before the sunset, the law simply reverts to the surveillance statutes in place as of last July – with the significant addition that plans authorized over the last six months may continue even if they have been authorized without appropriate judicial oversight.

This is important because we know what the Republican obstructionists will say the moment the PAA sunsets. Despite their protestations, we will not immediately be made less safe nor will the tools the intelligence community needs be ripped from their hands come 12:01 AM Friday morning. This is very important to know because you’re going to hear a lot of hot air and intimidation coming from the GOP this week.
Now you know the law and the plain fact is that we can continue with a sober, diligent effort to pass a good FISA law that protects Americans’ civil liberties while giving our intelligence professionals all the tools we need and simultaneously ensure that this law doesn’t include retroactive amnesty for big telecoms who face litigation over the role they played in helping the Bush administration spy on Americans.
Cross posted at the CREDO Blog.