Xavier Becerra: “Mr. Chairman, the substitute is very simple, because for the most part, as I believe most of us have said earlier, this…”

“Mr. Chairman, the substitute is very simple, because for the most part, as I believe most of us have said earlier, this bill is actually a very good bill. It just has two provisions which are heinous, which go against our Constitution. If most Americans would have an opportunity to examine this, they would say that this does not belong here. The first provision grants an exception to our privacy rights to allow Customs, without ever having to go after a search warrant, without ever having to show probable cause, to open up American citizens' mail. This is a provision which they could not substantiate. They could not explain why it was so essential. I think everyone understands why there is that exception for incoming foreign mail into this country. No one would argue that. But when it comes to Americans and the mail we send abroad, why is it so essential that Mrs. Jones' mail to her mother, who happens to live in the Netherlands, has to be opened without having to go through some scrutiny, legal scrutiny, to determine if it is fair or not for Mrs. Jones' mail to be opened without her consent? We can do it if we just go through the regular course of getting a warrant, showing probable cause to open up Mrs. Jones' mail. But why all of a sudden do we want to be able to have exceptions?”