On the recordApril 12, 2024
Mr. Chair, you just heard the words of Benjamin Franklin from my good friend Tom McClintock, that those who would give up freedom for safety deserve neither. I hope that we aren't marked in history as the generation of Congress that was willing to give up American liberty and freedom. It is what we stood for. It is what we have worked for. It is what the men and women of this country have died for. We owe it to them. It is our most important right as Americans. It is what the United States of America represents. We were told all this before. We were told in the last renewal of section 702 that everything was going to be okay, no worries, all the security was there, nothing to be concerned about, don't look here. Then we saw what happened. We saw that political campaigns and donors were gone after. We saw that Members of Congress were investigated. We saw that journalists were investigated. We saw that individuals who were Libertarians or liberals or conservatives were investigated. We saw FBI agents' own coworkers and even their ex-girlfriends and others were investigated. The average man and woman in America were investigated. It was wrong. It occurred not dozens, not hundreds, not thousands, but, over that time period, millions of times, millions of illegal queries. I cannot support, and I will not support, this legislation unless there is a major change in the form of an amendment that would require what we know needs to be done: a search warrant.…





