On the recordJuly 29, 2021
I thank the gentlewoman for yielding. We have an obligation here to approach issues in a bipartisan fashion when it is opportune. On the issue of prison reform, Republicans and Democrats joined together to pass the First Step Act. It was, in fact, the gentleman from New York (Mr. Jeffries) who led the Democrat effort in that endeavor. The essence of that is equality and access to information. Republican administrations shouldn't bar Democrats from being able to have reasonable observations of the ongoing workings of our government and, similarly, the Biden government should not have the opportunity to exclude Republicans. It begs the question why were we there. Following January 6, which was not a good day for our country, which included violence that all of us condemn, there has been an unprecedented targeting of Americans who have a particular viewpoint. Their bank records are turned over to Federal authorities by financial institutions they thought they could trust. They have seen themselves ripped from their bed at night, pulled out of their places of employment, harassed, questioned. Many of these people were not even in Washington, D.C. on January 6, but maybe they forwarded the wrong e-mail or liked the wrong photo or shared the wrong meme. What is happening in America where we take these exquisite national security authorities and we turn them inward on our own people? We have two principal areas of concern.…
