Political Quotes

“Mr. President, for the past year, the Senate has engaged in a serious, bipartisan effort to reform a controversial spying authority known as section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA. I have never questioned that section 702 is a valuable tool for collecting foreign intelligence. Congress's intention when we passed section 702 was clear as could be: FISA section 702 is supposed to be used only for spying on foreigners abroad. Instead, sadly, it has enabled warrantless access to vast databases of Americans' private phone calls, text messages, and emails. This powerful tool has been misused, sadly, in the United States to spy on protestors, journalists, and even Members of Congress. Last Friday, the House of Representatives passed an alarming bill. It is misleadingly called the Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act, but rather than fixing the flaws in section 702, the House bill will dangerously and unnecessarily expand it. The Senate is now rushing to pass the House bill as is because FISA section 702 will sunset on April 19, but that is a false choice. No Member should be fooled into believing section 702 will go dark and not be available to be used on April 20 if we do nothing. We planned for this exact scenario by providing clear statutory authority to continue surveillance under existing orders from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, known as FISC, after section 702 nominally expires. In fact, the U.S.…”