The lawmakers said they were taking the rare step of coordinating a discharge petition, which allows a bill to be brought to the floor for a vote without the consent of House leaders, to restore a key tool in the War on Terrorism. A total of 218 signatures are needed to require a vote on the bill.

Fossella said, "House leaders shut down the ability of intelligence officials to quickly monitor the communications of terrorists overseas. We know that this law helped prevent attacks from occurring, and its expiration has prevented intelligence officials from getting all the information they need to keep us safe. The intelligence community must have every legal tool at its disposal to detect and disrupt terrorists before they can launch a new attack. When it comes to national security, Congress should work across party lines to protect our nation. We have no choice but to take this step to force House leaders to bring this bipartisan anti-terror bill to the floor for a vote."

King, the Ranking Member of the House Homeland Security Committee, said, "The war on terror is too important for Congress to play partisan games with FISA. We must give our intelligence professionals the tools they need to protect us, and we must provide legal protection to those Americans who step forward to protect us. This is why I have joined with Congressman Fossella in introducing the stronger Senate bill, which will better protect New York and our nation from the threat of Islamic terrorism."

The FISA modernization bill is needed to allow intelligence officials to quickly monitor the communications of suspected terrorists overseas without first obtaining a warrant. A temporary fix of the FISA law, which was enacted in August 2007, expired in February and House leaders have since refused to bring a bill to the floor that would make these changes permanent.